A Real Challenge
by mikaylaxsalvatore
Summary: Sirius wants to win the girl of his dreams, but he's in for a bigger challenge that he thought, when different horrible events take place. What kind of tasks will he have to face to be with the one he loves? SBOC, JPLE, RLOC possible DH spoilers toward en
1. Arguments

_**Arguments**_

The rain was pouring down uncontollably, splashing at the windows. There was a huge fog that was so thick, you couldn't see your own hand in front of you. It was the worst storm of the year so far. Five girls in their weekend clothes were sitting in their room chatting. They were the best of friends, and closer than any five people could get. Their outter appearences were all incredibly different, and their personalities were too, but that didn't ever stop them from being the best of friends.

"I swear, spending one more year with Potter is enough to completely drive me mad," Lily complained in the dormitory.

"He's really not as bad as you think, Lily. He's a really great friend. Which reminds me, I should go see him and Remus," Ashley said with one of her mysterious smirks. "See you all later."

Ashley hurried down the stairs, and made her way to where the Marauders were seated. James was reading a Quidditch magazine, Remus was reading a book, and Sirius and Peter were playing Exploding Snap.

Ashley was incredibly close with Remus and James. She thought Sirius to be an arrogant jerk, and didn't really hang around Peter too much. But she had to put up with Sirius. The only thing that really forced them to hang out was Remus and James. Ashley was the first to figure out that Remus was a werewolf, and helped him through it more than any of the guys.

The next day, which was Saturday, Ashley sat quietly in the common room, reading a muggle book, when she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Hartford," Sirius Black said kindly, but Ashley knew better.

"What do you want, Black?" Ashley said, not bothering to look up from her book.

"Nothing. Dear Prongsie would like me to inform you that Quidditch game was rescheduled for Tuesday. He said not to sweat it though, because you're the best keeper he's ever seen," Sirius replied, and then of course had to add, "but I've deffinitely seen better."

"You're kindness is too much to bare," Ashley said in a bored tone.

"No, not kindness. Just honesty," he replied with a shrug.

"Don't you have a broom cupboard to be in or something?" Ashley asked, finally looking up from her book.

"Your words hurt," Sirius said, pretending to be offended. Ashley rolled her eyes, and got back to her book. She heard him mutter something under his breath and walk away.

The next morning, Ashley was talking to Remus at breakfast. It was a very cold morning, and Ashley was eating and preparing for classes. A few minutes after Ashley and Remus started talking, Sirius entered the Great Hall and plopped himself down on the other side of Remus. Ashley tried hard to not roll her eyes, but she couldn't help it. That cocky grin of Sirius' was enough to make her puke.

"Oi, Moony! Quick, who should be my first snog of the day?" Sirius asked in a distressed tone.

"I _really_ couldn't care less, mate," Remus said, shaking his head.

"Yes, Sirius. You see, some people actually have better things to do than lock themselves in broom cupboards all day long," Ashley said, rolling her big brown eyes at him.

"Jealous, Ashley? There's enough of me to go around, you know," Sirius said, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"Ha! Not even if the choice was between you and Snape," Ashley replied disgustedly.

"Now _that's_ the most insulting thing I've ever heard!" Sirius said, looking as if he were in shock.

"Just the truth," Ashley shrugged.

"Ugh, you guys are worse than Lily and James!" Remus complained.

"Yes, but everyone knows that Lily and James are destined to be together. Sirius and I on the other hand, are destined for _nothing_," Ashley replied, making sure Sirius understood she wasn't interested.

"You'll cave eventually, Hartford. I just know it," Sirius said positively, which did nothing but make her roll her eyes for the thousandth time. "You should really get that eye problem of yours checked, Hartford."

Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, a similar argument was going on. "Potter, I'll remind you that I'm a prefect, and can easily-,"

"Don't threaten me, darling. Do you think I'm scared? Maybe I wouldn't have to act this way if you'd accept my bloody date invitation," James countered.

"Would you guys please stop!" Nicole shouted.

"This has nothing to do with you, Nikki. It's between Potter and I, okay?" Lily said hotly, not really meaning to be so rude to her friend. Nicole looked slightly hurt, and stalked off, out of the corridor that James and Lily were currently arguing in.

"What a temper. Guess it's true what they said about redheads, eh?" James teased.

"You're such a prat," Lily countered angrily.

"I'm just making an observation, Lily. Calm down," James said, putting out his hands in defense.

"Yeah, and so was I. _My_ observation is that you're a pathetic prat," Lily said nastily.

"That's what I love about you, Lily. Such a firey attitude. It's pretty hot," James said, giving her a wink, which earned him a grunt of disgust. "That's another thing I love about you, Lils," James continued, his grin growing with each word, "You're a real challenge."

**Ah, Hope you enjoyed the first chapter : Of course, I had to add my trademark character, Ashley, into the story :P. Please R&R. Sorry this was so short.**


	2. Planning

**Thanks to Kait-Lynn23 and Tobias Potter for the reviews! Hope you all enjoy Chapter 2 **

_**Planning**_

"I'm tired of always fighting with Lily. I only have one more year to make her see me differently. One more year, and if I can't do it, I'll never see her again," James sighed desperately.

It was almost the end of their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. James and Sirius were really starting to take wooing Lily and Ashley to heart. It had just hit them that in one more year, they may never see each other again, and quite frankly, this was a thought that scared them both.

"I know what you mean. I don't _want_ to always fight with Ashley and have her hate me. I want to show her that I can be a good guy, but I messed up long ago, and now I just instinctively act like a jerk around her," Sirius responded with a sigh.

The two boys were alone in the common room late one night, having one of their very rare serious discusions. They were talking about the girls that they had been in love with since the first time they laid eyes on them. The two guys heard footsteps behind them, and immiately turned around. "Nicole?" Sirius questioned.

"Oh-Er...Hi guys," Nicole said, flushing pink. "I'll just...go."

"No, wait!" James said, his mind working quickly.

Nicole turned around and have him a confused look, but came down the stairs, and whispered, "What?"

"Well, I was just thinking, Lily and Ashley are your best friends, right?" James began.

"Yeah, and Lori and Dawn. So what?" Nicole questioned, clearly perplexed.

"Well...We're friends too, right?" James continued, his eyes gleaming with hope.

"Of course, James," Nicole replied. "But what are you on about?"

"Well, I was wondering if maybe you could help us with our little situtation with them," James finished.

"James, you know I'd love to help, but how can I? You know how stubborn the two of them are," Nicole said apolegetically.

"Yeah, but maybe you could just, ya know, tell us what bothers Ashley and Lily about us so much. Try overhearing conversations or casually bringing up a related topic. You know what I mean? We'd really appreciate it," Sirius said, catching on to what James was getting at.

"You want me to spy on my best friends?" Nicole asked skeptically.

"No, not spy! Just...help us out a bit. You've said it yourself, Ashley and I would be perfect together," Sirius responded in his charming voice.

"And you've always said Lily and I are meant to be," James pressed on.

"Ugh, okay! Fine! I'll do it, but I won't like it!" Nicole gave in with a sigh, and headed back to her dormitory.

The following morning, Nicole as usual, was the last to wake. She headed for the bathroom, and gazed at herself in the mirror. Nicole was considered one of the prettiest girls in sixth year, alongside Lily, Ashley, Lori, and Dawn. She thought she was pretty, but didn't say it often, because she didn't want to seem conceded or anything. But lately, she had been doubting her looks, seeing as she hadn't dated anybody since her split with Alex English, a seventh year Ravenclaw, nearly a year ago.

Nicole took one last look in the mirror. She thought of possibly dying her hair a more drastic color. She had brown hair that hung to her shoulder. Her eyes are what caught most people's attention though. They were hazel, but they changed with her mood and the weather. When she was angry or upset, they were brown. When she was happy, they were green. If it were cold, they would be brown, and if it were hot, they'd be green. She was about an inch taller than Ashley, but the both of them were both rather short for their age. A thing that Nicole liked to poke fun about in herself was that she had only one dimple. Nicole sighed, thinking about her love life and about the deal that she had made with Sirius and James. If her friends found out what she was doing, she'd be dead.

"Oi, Nicole!" a very familiar voice said.

"Hiya, Sirius. What's up?" Nicole said as they walked into the Great Hall.

"Nothing really. I just wanted to say thanks for doing this for James and I. I didn't get a change to thank you last night because you left in such a hurry," Sirius replied, giving her a quick hug.

"You're welcome, Sirius. Well, I'll see you in class."

Ashley poured herself some pumpkin juice. Lily was off at the library, and James was speaking to Professor Slughorn about some assignment, and her only close friends sitting at the table with her were Lori and Remus. Remus didn't really count though, because he was engrossed in some article in the _Daily Prophet_. Lori was probably her most cheerful friend. Ashley found it amazing that Lori could still manage to have a huge grin on her face so early in the morning. Lori was not only Ashley's most cheerful friend, but also her tallest one, as she stood at 5'9". Lori had long, wavy brown hair that fell a little bit past her elbows, and big, brown eyes. She had dimples the size of her fists, which was her cutest quality.

"Oh no," Lori said quietly.

"What's the matter?" Ashley asked, following her gaze.

"Look's like Black's found a new prey," Lori whispered. Ashley couldn't believe it. Nicole was _hugging_ Sirius! Sirius Black, Ashley's sworn enemy! Let's just say, Ashley was a _tiny bit_ ticked off.

"Uh oh," Sirius said quietly, turning around, and making Nicole turn with her.

"What uh-oh? Why'd you say uh-oh?" Nicole asked quickly and nervously, not daring to turn and look at whatever Sirius had seen.

"Ashley saw us hug," Sirius said, clapping a hand across his forehead.

"Don't worry. She probably has no idea I'm helping you with this. She probably only thinks we're dating," Nicole said with a shrug.

"Oh, that's so much better."

The next day, Lori and Dawn were walking to class together, discussing the topic that seemed to be on everyone's mind lately. "We need to do something to get them to see how perfect they are together," Lori told her friends on the way to Charms.

"Who? Lily and James or Ashley and Sirius?" Dawn questioned.

"All of them!" Lori replied, scratching her head. It was really funny to see Lori and Dawn walking down the hall together, because of such a huge height difference. Lori, who was 5'9" and then tiny Dawn, who was only 5'2".

Out of Ashley, Lily, Nicole, Lori, and Dawn, they all had something to distinguish themselves from one another personality-wise. Lori Harrow was very cheerful. She was always there to help you with your problems, and was very comforting. Dawn Beloven was brutally honest and only quiet around those she didn't know, but if she knew you, she would literally never shut up. Dawn had extremely long, almost black hair, and dark eyes. She was ghostly pale, and had tons and tons of freckles. She wore glasses too, and was very pretty. Nicole Corry was very wild, crazy, and hyper. She was a huge girly girl, but she knew when to be serious about things. She could be extremely sarcastic, too.

"I dunno, Lorrow. I mean, I want them to get together too, but you know how Ashley and Lily are. They're so stubborn!" Dawn reminded her friend. The girls all had nicknames for each other that combined their first and last names.

"Yeah, but still. _Someone's_ gotta show them that they're madly in love with Sirius and James," Lori replied with a shrug. As soon as Lori had an idea, she had herself totally convinced that it would work. She was a very positive person, and had faith in everything and everyone.

"You're too sure of yourself," Dawn told her friend.

"And you're not sure enough!" Lori retorted.

"How can two people who are so opposite be such good friends?" Nicole wondered, stepping out from around the hall. Apparently, she had heard them arguing.

"We're just talking about the whole Lily and James, Ashley and Sirius thing," Dawn said with a shrug.

"Well, I've done something that can change all of that," Nicole told them deviously.

There was one week left of their sixth year. Ashley and Lily were less than thrilled about going home. Lily loved her mum and her dad, but her sister was a whole different story. She didn't exactly appreciate being called a freak 24/7 in her own home. She had to force herself to go to Petunia's wedding this summer. She was sort of happy though, because that meant Petunia would be moving out, and she wouldn't have to deal with any of her name-calling anymore.

Ashley was unhappy about going back to a house with six sisters. Ashley was the second oldest of the family. All of the girls still lived at home though. But on the bright side, Ashley's older sister, Andrea, was moving out to move in with her fiancee in only one more month. It wasn't that Ashley didn't love Andrea, but six whiny girls is much, much more than enough for one household.

All of the Hartford family had a name that began with 'A'. Mr. Hartford was named Andrew, and Mrs. Hartford was named Aurora. Ashley had a sister who was a year younger than her named Allison. Aly was sort of the school slut, and her and Ashley bickered like crazy. Two years younger than Allison was Alonna, who was a really sweet and caring person. Then there was eleven-year-old Amy who was in her first year. Amy was always happy, and in her whole life, Ashley had only seen her upset five times at the most. Then there were the two who hadn't even started school yet. Alexis, who was eight years old, and Ava, who was four. Who wanted to go back to a house with that many people?

James and Sirius had decided that as soon as seventh year started, they would be completely different people. They had completely devoted themselves to making the girls that they loved realize that there was more to them than they thought. Nicole would be keeping in contact with James and Sirius over the summer to give them some help on what they should do. Hopefully, the plan would go well, and Ashley and Lily would see them for who they really were. Neither boy was too naive to know that it would be hard. Because they both knew that this would be a difficult task, especially knowing how stubborn both Ashley and Lily are. But they were willing to make the sacrafice for the girl's who took their hearts.

**Hey there! I was so glad I got reviews within an hour of posting that I decided to finish the second chapter early! So what do you think? If anybody has any comments or critisism or _anything_ just review :. Well, I'm off to write some of Chapter 3, and work on my other stories! **


	3. Wait and See

**I tried to make this chapter reasonably longer. Please R&R! kthnx :**

_**Wait and See**_

Ashley had a bittersweet feeling today. Sure, she was glad that she was going back to Hogwarts. She had missed it terribly over the summer, and she missed all of her friends. But this was going to be her last year at Hogwarts. It was two days before she had to go back to Hogwarts, and Ashley was meeting her friends at Nicole's. Nicole was the only pureblood out of their group, and they always enjoyed going to her house.

That and the fact that she had the second smallest family, next to Lori, who was an only child. All she had was a brother, who was three years older. David, who had left Hogwarts two years ago, and he had moved out last year, so there was plenty of space at the Corry's Manor.

Ashley finished packing her trunk, and ran downstairs into the kitchen. She said her good-byes to her parents, who were glad that there was only one more year before she would be home 24/7. Ashley hadn't had the heart to tell them that she was planning on pooling money with her friends to buy a house.

Now that Ashley was officially seventeen, and had a licene to apparate, she was glad that she would finally be able to apparate somewhere. She gladly focused on the front stoop of Nicole's house, and with a loud _crack_ she was at the front door.

Lily had actually enjoyed her summer, seeing as on July 2, Petunia got married, had a two-week honeymoon, and then moved out for good. Lily got to spend a lot of alone time with her parents, and the muggle friends she had left behind. Of course, they just thought she went to a boarding school during the school year. She trusted them, just not enough to tell them all that she was a witch.

Lily quickly washed her face, combed her hair, got dressed, made sure her trunk was packed, and headed downstairs. As usual, her mother cried because she was leaving, and her father wrapped her in the never-ending hug. Lily didn't mind it too much, because she knew that that was how parents were supposed to be, and she was glad that she had parents who cared about her so much.

After saying her good-byes, Lily, who had passed her apparating test with flying colors, apparated over to Nicole's.

Dawn was so happy to be seeing her friends again. She really didn't like her house. Dawn was, like Lily, a muggle-born, but her parents drove her crazy. Her mum just loved to yell, and her dad liked to drink. Nice combination, eh? Dawn happily thanked Hogwarts for accepting her every day of her life, because it gave her an excuse to get rid of these people.

Dawn, unlike Ashley and Lily, did not have to worry about tear-filled good-byes, because at 1:00 in the afternoon, her parents were both snoozing on the couch. Dawn rolled her eyes and left her parents a note saying she had left. Dawn was the baby of the family, her siblings all being much older than her. Closest to her in age, was her 27-year-old sister, Keri. Then, she had two older brothers, Nathan, who was 29, and Dylan, who was 31. They were all already married with kids, except for Nathan, who didn't even have a girlfriend.

Unfortunately, Dawn didn't turn 17 until August 20th, so she didn't get to take the Apparation test during the school year. It looked like she'd have to floo to Nicole's.

Lori awoke later than she had plan, and didn't get a lot of time to do things. As fast as possible, she got ready and packed. She tried to make the good-byes with her family extremely short. Her mum worried about her a lot, and her dad was rarely home. He hadn't even come home to say good-bye to her. Lori knew that he loved her, but he had a funny way of showing it.

Lori's mum reminded her to write, and all of that. Lori's mum was a muggle, but she had gotten used to everything about magic. At first, she refused to let Lori go to Hogwarts, but her father talked her mother into it. That was one of the few great things her father had ever done for her. Mr. Harrow was only home for about two weeks each month. Lori had gotten used to it, but she often wondered what it would be like to have a regular father.

She sighed, and flooed to Nicole's.

"Alrighty, Nicorry. You first," Lori called. Nicole smiled and ran onto the platform.

"Me next," Dawn said with a smile, and she ran in after Nicole.

"Lily," Lori said, gesturing for her to go onto the platform. Lily nodded, took a deep breath, and ran. Lori went in directly after her, and then Ashley.

The five girls got onto the train, and sat in the first empty compartment that they saw. Ashley put all of her things down, and said, "I'm gonna go check in with the guys."

The girls nodded, and Ashley left the compartment, looking for her good friends. After five minutes of searching, she found them settling into the compartment. "Ashley!" James and Remus shouted, each of them hugging her.

"Hey guys! How was your summer?" Ashley questioned, sitting in between them. She grabbed a Chocolate Frog from Sirius and unwrapped it.

"Hi to you too, Ash," Sirius mumbled.

"My summer," James said, ignoring Sirius, "was brilliant. I think this is the year."

"You say that every year, Prongs," Remus reminded him.

"Yeah, but this is our last year, so it's _got_ to be the year...Right?" James said hopefully, looking at Ashley.

"Uh-Yeah! Of course it is," Ashley said, trying to help James.

"My summer was pretty good. I always hate full moons in the summer most of all because you guys aren't there with me," Remus said solemnly.

"Sorry, Moony," they chorused.

"Well my sum-,"

"Nobody asked you, Sirius," Ashley said, giving him a dirty look.

"Oh, well..." _Don't argue, Don't argue, Don't argue_, Sirius told himself. "Okay then." Ashley furrowed her brows at him in confusion, but merely shrugged off the fact that he had held back from arguing with her.

"How was your summer, Ashley?" James asked, trying to save them from this awkward moment.

"It was as good as it could possibly get with six sisters roaming around," Ashley shrugged.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Ashley spun around and opened it. "Oh, Hey Nicole."

"Er-Hi, Ashley. James, Sirius...Can I talk to you for a moment?" Nicole questioned, turning a bit red. The boys nodded and followed her out into the corridor.

"What was that about?" Ashley asked Remus as she finished off her Chocolate Frog.

"Haven't the foggiest."

"So, Sirius. How have you been with Ashley?" Nicole questioned, leading them into an empty compartment.

"Good. I bit my tounge when she said something nasty to me," Sirius replied proudly.

"Great job. James, you have to go talk to Lily. Go ahead," Nicole said, nodding her head to the right. James grinned, thanked her, and headed for the compartment that Lily was in.

"I dunno if I can do this, Nicole," Sirius confessed.

"Of course you, can Sirius. Are you truly in love with her?" Nicole questioned him earnestly.

"Well...yeah, at least I think I am. I mean, I have no experience when it comes to actual love, but this is the ost I've ever felt for a girl. When she walks into a room, I can't explain it, it's like my heart is...I dunno...Lifting? And her smile...That's worth more to me than all the girls I've snogged in a lifetime. When she's around, I feel so happy, but self-consious at the same time, which is really weird for me, because I've never felt concious around _anyone_ before, so I dunno...that scares me a little. I feel like I want to spend the rest of my life with her," Sirius concluded with a large grin.

"Aww, Sirius! It's true, you are in love! I'm so happy for you!" Nicole said happily, giving Sirius a big hug. And then, mid-hug, Nicole and Sirius heard a yell of "Oh my god!"

They broke apart quickly, and spun around to face whoever was there. "Oh. Hello, Serena. Hey, Daphne," Nicole whispered quietly. Serena Strickland was one of the school's gossipy air-heads. She was in their year in Ravenclaw. Daphne Gammond was her best friend, who was also a good friend of Ashley, Lily, Lori, Dawn, and Nicole.

"Hi, Nicole," Daphne said quietly.

"Well, what do we have here? Sirius Black with his latest victim! Oh, this is too good!" Serena cried.

"Wait, It's not what-," but Serena had already run out of the compartment with a very sad looking Daphne at her heels. "Just great," Nicole mumbled.

"Perfect. Now, Ashley's going to think I'm seeing you!" Sirius said angrily, hitting himself in the head.

"Let's just try to get to her before Serena does," Nicole said, dragging Sirius out of the compartment. He followed her, and they scurried down the hallway, going back to the Marauder's compartment.

"Shit! She's not here!" Sirius cried, running his hands through his hair.

"We'll find her, don't worry," Nicole said soothingly. On the inside, she wasn't so calm. _Ashley's gonna _kill_ me_.

"C'mon, Moony. Let's go see if James is having any luck with Lily," Ashley said, leading Remus toward the door.

"Oh, okay," Remus said, setting aside his book, and following Ashley down the corridor. They were just otuside the compartment door, when a giggly girl and a worn-out looking one came up to them. "Hey, Daphne! How was your summer? Oh, hi Serena," Ashley said. She didn't paticularly like Serena much. She never cared for the incredibly gossipy girls who always seemed to be in everybody's business, and know every single thing about every single person.

"My summer was great, thanks. I just haven't really been able to get to sleep lately," Daphne said with a yawn.

"Have you guys heard about Sirius Black and Nicole Corry?" Serena blurted out, ignoring the two friends conversation.

"_What_?" Remus and Ashley said in unison. They exchanged a look, and then glared back at Serena.

"Yup. Daphne and I caught them in some compartment together!" Serena said proudly, like she was an auror who just caught a dark wizard or something.

"Really..." Ashley said, pretending to lose interest.

"Yup! They had their hands all over each other!" Serena said with a laugh. Then, she grabbed Daphne, and pulled her away like a dog on a leash. She gave Daphne a sympathetic look, and turned around to talk to Remus.

"I'm going to find out about this. You go see what Lily and James are up to. Make sure she's not being tormented or anything. Okay?" Ashley asked distractedly. Remus nodded, and slid open the compartment door as Ashley headed in the other derection, checking each compartment for Sirius and Nicole. Finally, after what seemed like hours of searching, she found them walking down a corridor.

Sirius and Nicole were making their way to find Ashley. "Where could she be?" Sirius asked, throwing his hands up in the air.

"I dunno, Sirius. Don't worry, we'll find her before Serena does," Nicole said positively as she scanned each compartment for her best friend.

"What if she already got to her?" Sirius asked miserably.

"She didn't, okay?" Nicole said, starting to feel a bit annoyed with his negativitey.

"Yeah, whatever," Sirius mumbled.

"Look, there she is!" Nicole said happily. The two of them ran up to her, but she looked pissed.

_This girl is supposed to be my best friend, and what does she do? She starts sleeping with the enemy! Ugh, I can't believe she would do this! I mean, there are plenty of guys at Hogwarts. Why did she have to go and pick _Sirius_ of all people to snog? It was gross! Not to mention a huge betrayl._ Ashley was positively steamed by the time Nicole and Sirius had run up to her.

"So how's the happy couple?" Ashley asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ashley, listen for a sec-," Nicole said breathlessly.

"Save it, Nicole. We're done here," Ashley said angrily, and she turned on her heel, and walked down the hallway, leaving Sirius and Nicole to exchange glances of pure misery.

Remus entered the compartment that Lily, James, Lori, and Dawn were currently in. Lori and Dawn were playing a game of Exploding Snap, Lily had a look of confusion on her face, and James was talking about something to do with being Head Boy.

"Please, Remus. Tell me he isn't serious," Lily said helplessly.

"I'm not serious, Lily," James told her, which made Lily look happy for a split-second, "I'm James."

"Oh, very funny!" Lily said, rolling her eyes. "That joke got old the second week of first term!"

"Hey, Lily. It won't be so bad, I promise," James said earnestly.

"What reason do I have to trust you?" Lily asked skeptically.

"Well, you have no reason to trust me, but you also have to reason to _not_ trust me. I've never lied or betrayed you, have I?" James said hopefully.

"How am I supposed to know?" Lily countered stubbornly.

James shrugged. "I guess you don't. You'll just have to wait and see."

**So, what did you guys think of Chapter 3? Reviews please :**


	4. Changing

**Hope everyone enjoys this next chapter. And don't forget to review : I'd really appreciate that. **

_**Changing**_

Sirius felt like the biggest idiot on the planet. He knew that technically, he hadn't done anything wrong. But still, Ashley thought he had. But why was she upset anyway? Was she...jealous? _No way, she hates me_, Sirius thought, _Maybe she was just mad because she thinks Nicole is with somebody she can't stand._ Sirius was really hoping that she was just jealous though, but he found that theory to be extemely unlikely.

Ashley felt like punching something. Hard. Nicole was currently at the library finishing an essay, so Ashley thought this was a good time to pour her heart out to Lori and Dawn.

"She was snogging Sirius? Nicole? Are you _sure_?" Lori asked incredelously.

"That's what Serena said. And then I saw them walking down the hall together," Ashley replied in disgust.

"That makes no sense," Dawn muttered.

"Why not? It's Sirius' mission to get every girl in school into his bloody bed," Ashley said angrily.

"Well, promise you won't get mad..." Lori started cautiously.

"I can't get any more mad than I am now, can I?" Ashley snapped.

"Okay, well...Dawn and I were in the hallway talking about how...about how you and Sirius were made for each other, and Nicole had overhead, and she said that she was doing something to change the situat-Oh, wait. You don't think she meant hooking up with Sirius when she said that, do you, Dawn?" Lori asked in astonishment.

"I guess it's possible," Dawn shrugged.

"Ha! I knew it!" Ashley cried, half-triumphant and half-angry.

&&

Nicole kept running her fingers in her hair nervously. She was dreading having to go back to the common room and facing Ashley. And there was no way that Ashley was going to listen to what Nicole had to say. She was much too stubborn for that. Nicole would have to find some other way to get through to Ashley. Nicole sighed and slammed her books shut. There was no way that she'd be able to get anything done when she felt _this_ horrible.

She messily threw all of her books into her bag, and slowly began her walk back to the common room, deciding on how to approach Ashley without being hexed. Nicole stepped through the portrait hole, and saw that the only person in the common room was Sirius, who was just gazing into the fire. She wanted to check if he was okay, but she was scared of being caught by someone - paticularly Ashley - and being acused of being with Sirius. When did life get so complicated, anyway?

Deciding to go against her better judgement, Nicole quietly called, "Sirius?"

Sirius slowly turned his gaze away from his fire, and looked straight at Nicole miserably. "Hi."

"How angry is she?" Nicole asked cautiously, stepping further into the common room.

"Let's just say I can hear her yelling from down here," Sirius sighed.

"I have to go fix this."

Nicole slowly made her way up the stairs and into her dormitory. "Ashley, We have to talk." Ashley glared at her furiously, but amazingly enough, she followed Nicole downstairs. "What is _he_ doing here?"

"We need to tell you what _really_ happened, Ashley," Nicole said, ignoring the nastiness in Ashley's voice.

"Whatever," Ashley said, plopping down on a chair, and gazing up at them emotionlessly.

"Well, you see, I had asked Sirius if I could talk to him about a problem he was having. He told me how he was handling it, I was happy that he was doing okay, and I have him a friendly hug. That's it. Then, Serena, the Queen of Gossip mosied on in, and assumed that because two people of the opposite sex were hugging, they _had _to be an item. We tried to tell her that nothing was going on, but you know how Serena is. She just walked away pulling poor little Daphne with her," Nicole clarified, looking at Ashley. "I'd never do that to you, Ash. I know how much you allegedly loathe him," Nicole concluded, nodding toward Sirius.

"Okay, I feel really _really_ stupid," Ashley said, turning pink.

"Don't worry about it, Ash. If I were in your place, I would have acted the same way," Nicole assured her, happy that things seemed to be better.

&&

"Hey, Lily? Can I ask you something?"

_Oh great. This was it. Potter's first date attempt of the semester. Let's see how he's going to try to get me to go out with him this time. He really never gives up. He's almost as stubborn as me,_ Lily thought, shaking her head. She left her thoughts to go back to reality. _Wait...Did he just call me Lily?_

"What, Potter?" Lily asked, ignoring the fact that he hadn't called her Evans._ Here it comes._

"Did Professor Dumbledore want us to hold that prefect's meeting on the 15th or the 19th? Guess I must have spazzed out a bit," James said with a slight grin.

Lily was in so much shock, she had to force herself to keep her mouth shut. "Um-The...The 15th."

"Thanks, Lily. I guess I'll see you later."

_That was it? No rude or sarcastic comments? No asking me out? Was this a trick or something? Because there was no way that James Potter could change, right? It was simply impossible. End of story._

&&

_I, Ashley Rhiannon Hartford, am the hugest moron on the face of the Earth. How could I think so horribly of my _best_ friend? Friends are supposed to trust each other. Gosh, I'm a terrible, terrible friend! I should have known that nothing was going on with Nicole and Sirius. They were allowed to be bloody friends!_

Ashley continued her walk down the hallway, and repeatedly smacked herself in the head for making such an idiot of herself. _I'm such a bitch._ Ashley hit herself one more time, and then decided it was time to go back into the common room. On the way there, she heard a voice behind her yelling, "Ashley! Hey, Ash!" It was Sirius._ Oh great, What does _he _want? Hasn't he caused enough stress in my life for one day? Wait, did he just call me what I think he called me?_

"What do you want, Black?" Ashley said, a line she was very used to greeting Sirius with.

"I was just wondering if you had the notes for the Potions Essay. I accidently left them in class, and if I fail one more essay with Slughorn, I may get kicked out of potions," Sirius said miserably.

"Oh...Okay. I have them in my dormitory though. I'll bring them down," Ashley said awkwardly, as she led the two of them into the portrait hole. She quickly ran up the stairs, and dug through her bag for her potions notes. _Did Sirius and I actually have a conversation with no sarcasm, no flirting, and no yelling? This isn't real._ Ashley felt dazed as she handed Sirius the notes, and he got to work on his essay.

&&

_Wow. She's got such cute handwriting. And she dots her i's with circles. That's completely adora-STOP. Focus, Black. You're about to fail potions, and all you can do is rave about Ashley's handwriting. There's something seriously wrong with you._ Sirius sighed and tried hard to concentrate on his essay, but got side tracked a few times. Sometimes it was because of Ashley's handwriting. Other times it was because of the fact that she was reading a Quidditch magazine only five feet away and he wasn't making a move. This was all just much too new to him.

Sirius stood up. He had to finish this essay, and there was no way that he could do that when Ashley was sitting there. _She's rather cute when she's reading. The way her eyebrows furrow is so-WOULD YOU GET A BLOODY GRIP ALREADY! _Sirius got up, and mumbled, "I'm going to the library. I'll get your notes back by dinner."

"Wait a second," Ashley said with a grin. "Are you telling me that you actually know where the library is?"

"Well, Ashley, if I get lost, I've got the map in my pocket," Sirius said humorlessly, and turned around.

"Hey, Bla-I mean...Sirius," Ashley said with a small twitch. "I was just kidding, okay?" Ashley had no idea why she felt the need to add that, but he looked almost...hurt.

"Yeah, sure...I know," Sirius said, and left through the portrait hole.

&&

"You know, James told me about what you're doing for him and Sirius," Remus said quietly. He and Nicole were currently working on their Charms homework in the Great Hall. There were no meals being served, so there were only about ten other people in the hall.

"Did he?" Nicole said, not looking up from what she was currently writing.

"Yep. That's a really nice thing for you to do," Remus told her sincerely.

"Thanks, Remus. I know that they're all destined to be together, so I figured, why not give them a little boost?" Nicole said, looking up from her essay for a mere second.

"I didn't really believe you'd do that to Ashley," Remus went on, pausing for a second to take a quick note. "That whole being with Sirius thing, I mean," he added.

"Of course not! I'd never do something like that. I've already made mistakes like that in the past, and ever since I made that paticular mistake, I promised myself that my friends would come before guys," Nicole replied, finally fully looking up from her work.

"Nicole!" Nicole turned around to see Lily charging toward her. She sat herself down right next to Remus, and directly across from Nicole.

"What's up, Lils?" Nicole asked, alarmed.

"I just had a whole conversation with Potter, and he didn't make any rude comments, no flirting, no asking me out, nothing! He's planning something!" Lily said, throwing her hands up into the air.

"Lily, Have you considered that there may be a possibility that James has _changed_?" Nicole asked amusedly, and proudly.

Lily thought for a second. "Impossible."

"Why is that so hard to believe, Lily?" Nicole questioned.

"Because it's _Potter_. You know, the obnoxious, flirty, arrogant, arse who goes around torturing people for fun and asks me out every bloody chance he gets!" Lily replied heatedly, which only made Nicole laugh, and Remus grin.

"People grow up, Lily. They get more mature, and become adults. That's all _James_ is doing. And really, would it kill you to call him that?" Nicole replied, going back to her work, leaving Lily contemplating in her own little world.

Moments later, Ashley ran in the Great Hall, and said almost exactly what Lily had, only about Sirius. Nicole tried to stay out of it, and she let Lily and Ashley discuss things on their own, so that she wouldn't say anything that may make them suspicous.

&&

Ashley left the Great Hall with an odd feeling. Sirius and James had both miraculously decided to become mature at the exact same time? Ashley had always known that James was mature, even if it wasn't around Lily, but Sirius? Get real. There was something more to this. Ashley honestly wanted to believe that Sirius had grown up, but what if it was just some kind of plan to get her to date him? Ashley guessed she would have to wait it out and see if he kept it up.

Ashley decided to just let things happen, when she felt a huge surge of pain in her body, and then, everything went black.

&&

Sirius packed up all of his books, and shoved them into his bag carelessly. He had just finished his essay, and was glad to get out of the library. He didn't like being in such a quiet place with a bunch of brainiacs who appeared to be mute. Sirius made his way down the hall, heading for dinner. All of that work he had just done had made him incredibly hungry. But then, he saw something on the ground that made him completely lose his appetite.

Sirius dropped his school bag and sprinted over to the unconcious form of Ashley on the floor. He quickly decided to just take her to the Hospital Wing himself instead of calling for help. If he took too long to get help, who knows what might happen to her? She was covered in blood, and was as cold as ice. Sirius vowed to get the bloody bastard who did this.

He scooped her up in his arms, and quicky ran to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey gaped at the helpless girl Sirius had brought in. When she was concious, Ashley was anything but helpless. She was strong, bold, and confident. Sirius absolutely hated seeing her like this. So weak and fragile.

Madam Pomfrey leaned over her, and quickly felt for a pulse. "Oh my lord."

"What? What is it?" Sirius cried.

"Fetch the headmaster, Mr. Black," was all she said.

"But-,"

"I said go!" Madam Pomfrey shrieked.

"I'm not leaving until you assure me than she'll be okay," Sirius said, crossing his arms, and taking a quick glance at Ashley.

"She'll be fine, okay? Just go!"

But Ashley was anything but fine.

**THE END. Haha, just kidding. Sorry to leave it on a cliff hanger. If this chapter gets a decent amount of reviews, I'll be quick about posting the next chapter :**


	5. Between Life and Death

**This took me a few days to get up, so sorry about that : But thanks to CrystalPrincess13, LovePadfoot5867, Asheln, RazzleDazzleTime, and FariesandDragons911 for the reviews of Chapter 4! Enjoy this chapter, and keep the reviews coming :**

_**Between Life and Death**_

Sirius sprinted down the corridors at top speed. Finally, when had had made it to Dumbledore's office, he realized that he didn't know the password. Then, he remembered that dinner was being served, and that Dumbledore was probably in the Great Hall. Angrily, he ran as fast as he could to the Great Hall. Everybody just stared at him when he entered. Sirius looked down, and noticed that Ashley's blood was completely covering him.

He didn't let the looks of curiousity slow him down though. He just continued to run up to Dumbledore, who looked slightly alarmed. "Ashley was attacked, professor!" He whispered fiercly, "Madam Pomfrey needs you now."

Dumbledore wordlessly stood up and followed Sirius. James, Remus, Peter, Lily, Nicole, Lori, and Dawn all looked extremely alarmed.

&&

"So you and Ashley made up, right?" Lori questioned, as she stuffed some mashed potatos into her mouth.

"Yep. I wonder where her and Sirius are. You don't think they're..." Nicole trailed off with a grin.

"Possibly," Remus shrugged, "Personally, I don't think Ashley would change her mind about him so quickly though."

"They're deffinitely not snogging," James said, his eyes wide.

"Why's that?" Dawn asked him. James stuck his pointer at something, and everyone followed it. Sirius was running in the Great Hall, his shirt and face covered in blood.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Lori asked nervously.

"I dunno, but he's white as a ghost! And oh, would you look at all of that blood?" Lily said quietly.

"Where's Dumbledore going?" murmured Remus.

James stood up, and began jogging after Sirius and Dumbledore, who had just left the hall. He heard footsteps behind him, and guessed other people decided to accompany him. Finally, James managed to catch up with Sirius and Dumbledore. Dumbledore didn't say anything about so many students being there until they got to the Hospital Wing.

"Just Mr. Black and I for now, okay?" he said softly, and the two of them went inside. The other seven of them waited in the chairs outside of the Hospital Wing, waiting for some news as to what the hell was going on.

&&

"What seems to be the problem, Poppy?" Dumbledore questioned, looking at the girl before him.

"She was deffinitely attacked. Appears to have been beaten by hand a bit, too. Whoever did this must have hated her."

"Why would anyone hate her?" Sirius questioned softly.

"There are cruel people in the world, Mr. Black, Very cruel people," Dumbledore said solemnly. "Go tell the others what has happened here. I'm sure they're terribly worried." Sirius gave a small nod, and left the hospital wing.

"Will she be all right, Poppy?" was the last thing Sirius heard before exiting. He wanted to see if Madam Pomfrey had been honest with him, so he pressed his ear against the door, and listened for the response.

"I can't tell, Albus. She appears to be hovering somewhere between life and death."

&&

"Sirius! What the devil is going on?"

"Is it Ashley?"

"Tell us something!"

Sirius heard the pleads from his friends, but couldn't bring himself to explain. "She was attacked." Was all he was able to choke out.

"Attacked?" Lily shrieked. "Attacked by who?" Sirius shrugged, and collapsed onto a chair.

"I-Is that her...Is that her blood?" James questioned shakily. Sirius glanced up at him and merely nodded.

"Did you hear anything?" Dawn asked fearfully. Sirius stood up, and without uttering a word, went back into the hospital wing.

He couldn't manage to put his feelings into words. He felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing him in the stomach. Sirius felt like he couldn't breathe. He had no idea what he'd do if Ashley were to..were to...He couldn't think about it. But this was reality, and he'd just have to face it.

&&

"What the bloody hell do you mean by 'between life and death'?" James asked angrily.

"Well, you see, she's on some astral plane...a sort of limbo, somewhere between life and death. She's not alive, and she's not dead. From where she is now, she could either come back or die, depending on what plane she's on and what she's seeing," Professor Dumbledore explained somberly.

"Can we tell what plane she's on?" Lily asked as tears formed in her eyes.

"I don't think so, Miss Evans. But I assure you, I'll look for one," Professor Dumbledore said comfortingly.

"How long will she be like this?" Remus asked miserably.

"I'm afraid that is up to Miss Hartford. Though she won't know it," Professor Dumbledore said sadly.

&&

_Where the bloody hell am I? _Ashley thought to herself frantically. She was in a dark, gloomy place. There were gray clouds above her head, a hard, cold, stone floor with hard stone benches. _This is too depressing_.

Ashley collapsed onto the ground of this strange place. Her head was spinning and throbbing. She stood up quietly, and looked around. This was her house! Ashley looked a bit more, and saw herself. Only she was about eight. Ashley watched as her eight-year-old self screamed "Seeya!" to whoever was in the house, and run out the front door.

Ashley followed herself to the house next door, and she now knew what she was about to see. Little Ashley met up with a little girl who looked to be the same age. They were playing catch when the ball rolled into the street. Ashley's friend ran to get it quickly, and just as she swooped down to get the ball, a large truck hit the girl, ending her life instantly.

"Karen!" both little and old Ashley shouted. They both fell to the ground, and started uncontrollably crying. And then, Ashley found herself back where she had awoken. That dark and gloomy place. Ashley rocked herself back and forth. "K-Karen! Karen, no! KAREN!"

&&

"K-Karen! Karen, no! KAREN!"

"What on earth?" Madam Pomfrey said nervously, looking down at Ashley's unconcious body.

"How the bloody hell is she speaking if she's in between life and death?" Sirius questioned, looking from Ashley, to Madam Pomfrey, to Dumbledore.

"Miss Hartford appears to be in Recordatio," Dumbledore replied quietly, not taking his eyes off of the screaming Ashley.

"Recordatio? Wh-What's that?" Sirius asked nervously.

"It's the astral plane that takes you to see three of your most horrible memories. If the person can stay strong enough after they're taken back, they life, but if they can't overcome the memories, they shall die."

&&

Nicole didn't really feel up to going to class, but she needed some kind of distraction from all of the pain and misery she was in. She was so scared for Ashley, she didn't know what to do. Nicole was distracted the whole day, and that evening in the common room, she barely heard her name being called.

"Re-Remus? Is that you?" Nicole asked, turning around a little.

"Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Remus said somberly, taking a seat beside her.

"I'm all right. Ugh, forget it, I'm lying, I'm a total wreck!" Nicole cried sadly.

"I'm really sorry, Nicole. She's one of my best friends too, but she's strong, she'll recover from this. I know she will," Remus assured her.

"But what if she can't pull through? What if she doesn't make it?"

&&

Lily was a complete and utter mess. How could this happen to someone as kind and generous as Ashley? Lily was dragging her feet to dinner, when she ran directly into James.

"Oh, sorry, Lily!" James cried, reaching out his hand for her to take.

"Oh. It was my fault," Lily said tonelessly, letting him help her up.

"She'll be okay, Lily. You know she's strong," James said as if reading her mind.

"I hope so," Lily said quietly, in fear that if she spoke too loudly, she'd start to cry.

"Here, let me help you to the Great Hall," James offered.

"Th-Thanks, Pot-," Lily cut herself off, and with a small pause, finished with, "James." He seemed glad to be called by his first name, and he helped her get to dinner.

&&

"There's got to be something I can do," Sirius stated fustratedly.

"This is something that Ashley needs to do on her own, Mr. Black," Dumbledore told him sympathetically.

"But I can't just sit here and watch while she's at the risk of dying, Professor!" Sirius shouted, not meaning to get so surly with the headmaster. But Dumbledore didn't show it if he was angry or offended by Sirius, He merely nodded his head.

"I understand, Sirius, and if there was anything I could do to help, I would, but my hands are tied. She must figure this out on her own, without help."

&&

_Why Karen?_ Ashley questioned herself. She had gotten herself together, and wiped away all of the tears. _What kind if place is this, anyway? And how did I literally relive Karen's death? Would she just be taken back to relive every horror in her life? Because Ashley knew that there was no way she could handle another memory like that. There was just absolutely no way. _

Little did Ashley know that if she couldn't pull herself together after each memory, she would lose her life.

**So, what'd you think? If you like, please review me :**


	6. Slipping Away

**Yay! Chapter 6 is up! Please Read and Review! And thanks to Asheln for reviewing Chapter 5! **

_**Slipping Away**_

"Oh my...Would you just look at him?" Lori said softly, leading her friends into the Hospital Wing on this cold Saturday morning. "He really does love her, eh?"

Everybody glared over to where Sirius was. He was asleep in a chair, and his hand was holding Ashley's. It would have been simply adorable, if it were under other circumstances.

"It would appear that way," Dawn agreed.

Lily walked over to the chair on the other side of the unconscious Ashley and took a seat. Lily opened up the bag she was carrying and pulled out a wash cloth. "Remus, can you please wet this for me?"

Remus nodded and did as he was asked. Moments later, he returned with a wet wash cloth. Lily pushed back all of Ashley's hair, and started washing her face with the cloth.

&&

_I've got to get out of here_, Ashley thought miserably. She began pacing, her mind racing with thoughts. It had been about seven hours since that odd flashback she had, and nothing else had happened. _I'm terribly tired so I might as well take a nap_. Ashley collapsed onto a bench, but before she could lay down, she felt a horrid headache come on. Ashley dropped to her knees, and grabbed her head.

When the pain was gone, and Ashley felt safe enough to open her eyes, she found herself in the past once again. This time she was fourteen, and was in her first real boyfriend's house over the summer. _Oh no, not Dylan._

"What's wrong, Dylan?" Ashley watched herself question. Dylan was the oldest of five boys, and made a room for himself in the basement, which was where the two of them were, sitting on the love seat. Dylan was a muggle, and knew nothing of Ashley's Hogwarts life.

Dylan shook his head, and began to kiss her deeply, but she pushed him away. "What is it with you? Why can't we just talk, Dyl?"

"What is it with _me_? Look who's talking, Virgin Mary," Dylan taunted.

"Shut up, Dylan," Ashley said angrily.

"Aww, Am I upsetting Saint Ashley?" Dylan questioned nastily.

"You're such a git! I'm leaving."

"No!" Dylan shouted, pinning her down to the sofa, and kissing her furiously.

"Gerroff!" Ashley screamed, trying to push him away.

"Haha, There's nothing you can do about it, Ash," Dylan told her quietly as he pulled his shirt off.

"Leave me alone! Why are you doing this?" Ashley sobbed.

"Because I can," Dylan replied with a shrug, working to get off his pants now.

Ashley wriggled one hand free, and slapped him across the face. While he was down, she jumped up, but he grabbed her by the legs, making her trip and fall. He slapped her hard, and pulled off her shirt.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" Ashley screamed, tears falling down her cheeks.

"This would be so much easier if you would just cooperate," Dylan said impatiently, as he pulled off her pants.

"Leave me alone!" Ashley screamed, kneeing him where it hurts. He stopped what he was doing and fell over, cursing like a mad man. He pulled himself back up, and lunged at her. He began beating her madly, and then a voice in the distance said, "Hey Dylan, Can I borrow your-OH MY GOD. Dylan, what the hell are you doing to her? Get the fuck off of her!" Dylan's younger brother, Eric, had shouted.

Eric jumped on top of Dylan and pried him off of Ashley, and then he started punching Dylan angrily. It was kind of obvious that Eric had a crush on Ashley for some time, and his anger and jealousy all came out with each punch he threw at Dylan. Eric was Ashley's age, and Dylan was a year older than both of them. Eric was just about as big as Dylan, and really left some marks. Ashley had blood dripping down her face, and when Dylan got his senses back, he began throwing punches at Eric.

Ashley was scared, angry, hurt, and upset. She dashed across the room and grabbed the phone. She dialed the police, and gave a brief summary of what happened. Within minutes, the police had arrived, and Dylan was charged with attempted rape, and assault. As far as Ashley knew, he was still in prison. Eric left the fight with a broken nose, his left arm broken, his right leg broken, two broken toes, a sprained ankle, and gashes and scars across his face. The last time Ashley had saw him, he was still in a wheel chair.

The 17-year-old Ashley was crying the whole time the scene unfolded once again. When she had finally learned to get past that incident, it came back and bit her in the arse. Ashley felt herself being transported back to where she had started, and she sat there, screaming at the top of her lungs and crying miserably.

&&

"STOP IT! STOP IT! LEAVE ME ALONE! Stop, Dylan! Gerroff me! Eric!"

"Someone's hurting her!" James said angrily.

"Someone's _killing_ her!" Dawn said, crying. It was all anyone could do at this point. Just watch as their friend slowly loses her life.

"Who's Dylan and Eric?" asked Nicole.

"You don't know? I thought Ashley would have told you about something that seems to be this horrible," Remus replied worriedly.

"You mean she didn't tell you guys either?" Lily asked shakily.

"No," James said miserably.

"Maybe it was too traumatizing or embarassing for her to talk about," Nicole said, wiping at her tears.

"What did those guys do to her?" Lori asked, looking at Ashley. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, she was rolling around uncontrollably, and screaming.

Sirius remained quiet throughout the whole conversation, thinking to himself about what was going on. He couldn't bring himself to speak or contribute to the conversation. The only thing that he felt capable of doing was looking at Ashley.

&&

"I cant take it!" Ashley shouted.

_Why am I being forced to relive all of this? Come on, Hartford, crying only makes you weak. Stay strong, stay strong. _But she couldn't. She couldn't just let go of what she had just seen. It was one of the worst things that ever happened to her. Ashley liked to believe that all of the terrible things that have happened to her only make her stronger, but she didn't appear to be very strong right now, as she sat on the ground and cried like a toddler.

She thought back to her relationship with Dylan. He didn't smack her around a lot, but he did it often enough. Even once is too often in Ashley's opinion. _God, How the hell did I get here? _

&&

Everybody had now gone down to lunch. Everyone except Sirius. He hadn't left Ashley's side since she was brought here. James and Remus brought him his work, and he did it in the Hospital Wing. Not even Madam Pomfrey or Dumbledore could pry him away. He slept in the bed right beside Ashley. He called a house-elf to bring him food, and bathed in the Hospital Wing. Everybody soon got more worried about Sirius than Ashley.

Sirius found himself wondering about the people that Ashley had been yelling about. There was Karen, Dylan, and Eric. Who were these people, and how come even Ashley's dearest friends had never heard of them? Did something so horrible happen to Ashley that she felt the need to hide all of it? Sirius even talked to Ashley during the day, knowing it would be no use. He just felt that he had to talk to her, that maybe he could reach out to her, even in her unconscious state.

"Mr. Black?"

It was now about an hour after dinner, and Sirius heard the voice of Professor Dumbledore behind him. Sirius didn't bother turning around. He barely even bothered saying anything, he merely grunted.

"Don't you think it's time you left the Hospital Wing? Surely classes would be a good distraction from all of this," Dumbledore said, stepping closer to him.

"I can't leave her. I won't," Sirius replied dully, but sternly.

"Pardon me, Mr. Black, but I was under the impression that Miss Hartford and yourself weren't the best of friends," Dumbledore said, taking a seat next to him. Clearly, he wanted to keep Sirius talking.

"She hates me. I love her," Sirius stated, not taking his eyes off of her.

"I doubt very much that she _hates_ you. Hate is a strong word," Dumbledore told him, joining him in staring at Ashley.

"Well, then let's use the term 'strong dislike'."

"And why does she strongly dislike you?" Dumbledore questioned. _What does he care?_ Sirius thought bitterly. He sighed, but answered anyway.

"When I first met her, I was instantly infatuated with her. I'd follow her to class, offer to help her with things. You know, like a gentlemen. She made it clear that she wasn't interested, so I pretended that I didn't care. The more she ignored me and made fun of me, the more I fell in love with her. I did everything to get her to date me. After a while, I started dating tons of girls to see what she'd say or do. She still took no interest. We've only had one conversation in the past three years without making fun of each other, and that only started about a week ago. And finally, when she began actually talking to me, this happened," Sirius said. He had just poured his heart out to Professor Dumbledore, and he had no idea why. He felt kind of awkward talking to a guy who was around 130 years old about this, but hey, Dumbledore asked, didn't he?

"Well, your friends told me that she was screaming about two young men. Have you ever thought of the possibility that Ashley is scared of relationships, so she pushed you away? Maybe she locked away her heart because she was hurt and didn't want to be hurt again. Perhaps she was only mean to you all these years to keep herself from falling in love with you," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

Sirius thought for a second about what Dumbledore had said, and it _did_ make sense. But what if he was wrong? Really, what did Professor Dumbledore know about love? But there was always the possibility that he was right. Dumbledore tended to be right about a lot of things, and this might be no different. Hopefully, he'd get the chance to find out.

&&

Lily couldn't sleep. It was just no use. How could anybody go to sleep when their best friend was slowly losing her life? It was impossible. Simply impossible. Lily crept out of her dormitory, and made her way down the stairs, and into the common room. She sat in the couch that faced the fire, and glared into the flames as tears erupted from her eyes. How would she live if anything happened to Ashley? They had been best friends for almost seven years. There was just no way that they could lose her.

Lily tried to keep her sobs under control, because she did not wish to wake up the entire Gryffindor house, but she just couldn't help it. She hated the thought of not being able to do anything to help Ashley. Lily heard a noise behind her, and tried to keep quiet so she could hear who was coming. She listened carefully as the footsteps grew louder and closer. Lily turned around to see who was awake.

"Oh...Sorry, James. I didn't wake you, did I?" Lily asked apologetically.

"Huh? Oh, no...I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about Ashley and Sirius," James replied, rubbing at his eyes. _Had he been crying?_

"Wanna talk about it?" Lily asked, slouching back onto the couch. She heard James mumble something, and watched as he sat down. He looked at her, waiting for her to speak. She didn't know what provoked it, but she broke out into tears all over again. They streamed down her face, and she kept trying to wipe them away, but every time she'd wipe away a tear, five more came in it's place. "I-I'm so sor-sorry that you have to-to see me like this, Ja-James. It's just that I've tr-tried to stay strong for so long, and I-I just c-can't do it anymore! I'm a nervous wreck! My best friend is _dying_, and there's simply n-nothing I can do about it! I hate not being in control! A-And then there's poor Sirius who hasn't left her side in d-days, and is so miserable! It's horrible, and I-I can't take it!" Lily sobbed and collapsed into James' arms. He held her, and stroked her hair.

"It's okay, Lily. Ashley will pull through. You know how strong she is. And plus, she's too stubborn to die." Lily gave a little laugh at that through the thick tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry for bombarding you with my problems. I'm sure you're just as upset as I am," Lily said, wiping at the last of her tears and looking at James sadly.

"No, I'm glad that you talked to me about how you were feeling. I saw how you tried not to show any emotion in the hospital wing. You've been so emotionless in class, and I'm glad that you finally let it all out," James told her, wiping at some tears she had missed.

"You're a good friend, James. I think I'm going to try to catch some sleep. Good night," Lily said. She gave him an awkward hug, and went up the stairs. _Did I just hug James Potter and pour my heart out to him? What's going on with me?_

&&

"Nicole, What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out a way to save Ashley!" Nicole shouted, flipping through books furiously. Her hair was a mess and sticking out in different directions and her eyes had huge bags under them.

"Nicole, You know that can't be done. Only Ashley can save Ashley," Remus told her sadly. He hated seeing everybody so miserable. Some of his dearest friends were now borderline insane, and Remus had to try to keep his level head, but it was quite hard.

"I'll find a way, Remus! I've got to, she's my best friend!" Nicole snapped angrily.

"Look, you need some sleep. Go to your dormitory, and I'll take over the reading and everything," Remus told her. He knew that there was no way that it could be done, but if it would get this poor girl to catch some sleep, he'd help out in any way.

"Really, Remus? That's kind of you, but there's no way I can sleep under the given circumstances," Nicole replied, her tone a bit sweeter, but her face still furious. She scanned the pages of the book she was reading, her head snapping back and forth, left to right.

"Well, just lay down. You don't need to sleep, all though that would be preferable. Just lay down, and I'll report back to you if I find anything," Remus told her sincerely.

Nicole gave a small half smile. "All right, but I doubt I'll be able to rest when I'm this worried."

"Just try, Nicole. It's all I ask," Remus replied. He gave her a friendly smile as she rose from where she had been sitting. Remus took her place and began reading the books that Nicole had taken out. _The poor girl's out of her mind._

&&

_I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here._ Ashley didn't even feel real anymore. She sort of felt like an illusion. She felt like that past 17 years were all just a dream, and this dark, gloomy place was now her life. Ashley didn't even get hungry anymore. She didn't need to go to the bathroom. She wasn't human. She was slowly slipping away.

**So, what did you guys think? Personally, I loved writing this chapter! There was just something about it that I love, I can't quite put my finger on it though. Strange, eh? So, I hope you loved reading it as much as I loved writing it! Please review me if you get the chance! It means a lot, thanks! And the more reviews I get, the sooner I'll put up Chapter 7!**


	7. The Art of Being Brave

**Hmm...This chapter took quite a while to get up, didn't it? Sorry about that. Well, hope you enjoy it, please review!**

_**The Art of Being Brave**_

Ashley sighed deeply. There had to be a way out of this place. She broke out in tears every so often, remembing what she had seen. Ashley would do anything to get away from this place. It was frightening and lonely. At the very least, she just wished she could contact her friends. Ashley had nothing to lose, so she closed her eyes and concentrated. She concentrated harder than she had on anything else in her life. Suddenly she felt something around her hand. Not so much like a glove though...Was it a hand? Someone was holding her hand.

Ashley was pleased with her progress, so she concentrated harder. She wanted to know who was holding her hand. She wanted to know who else was in the Hospital Wing. Most of all, she wanted to know where she was and how to get out.

"Sirius, please! Just come out of here for a few hours!" a voice pleaded. It was male, but Ashley couldn't concentrate hard enough to know whose it was.

"No, I'm not leaving her. I can't and I won't."

"Come on, Sirius. Please? We're worried about you, mate."

"James, What if this was Lily? How keen would you be to leave?"

"Guess I never thought of it that way...But she's my best friend, and I manage to leave the Hospital Wing."

"You're not in love with her."

It couldn't be...Was Sirius actually sincere? He hadn't left her this whole time? After all these years of her treating him like crap, he was staying by her side, refusing to leave her. She felt like such a bitch for being so mean to him for all of these years. But she just couldn't trust herself with guys. Not since Dylan. She had to keep all males at arms length when it came to romance. If she ever came out of here, her first priority would be to be nicer to Sirius, but no relationships. Just a friendship.

"No, I suppose I'm not _in_ love with her. But I do love her. Padfoot, this isn't healthy!" James cried.

_Please, Sirius. Don't stay in here because of me. Go out and enjoy yourself. Don't be miserable. Don't be miserable._

As Ashley was pleading with Sirius in her head, she felt that horrible feeling again, and knew that once again, she was going back in time. Back to some other horrible event in her past that would surely traumatize her for life. _No more, no more, I can't take it! No more!_

Ashley finally landed, and opened her eyes hesitantly. This was the worst of them all, and Ashley tried closing her eyes, but she just couldn't keep them shut. Ashley was sixteen here. It was right before she started her sixth year at Hogwarts. Ashley heard a shout of "Oh my god!" and walked closer to the people in the other room. Her mum and her dad were there. Her mum was crying loudly, and her dad was holding her, looking upset and angry.

"Why, Andrew? Why Florinda? My baby sister!"

Ashley heard people running down the stairs and saw herself and all of her sisters. "S-Something happened to Aunt Florinda?" Amy stuttered.

"Sit down, girls," Mr. Hartford ordered quietly, and they all did. Ashley felt the tears well in her eyes as her father sighed and began speaking. "Last night your Aunt Florinda went out to a bar. She met a man there, and they went back to her house afterward. Florinda was a bit drunk, and she didn't know this man very well. The man pulled out a gun and...and threatened Florinda and your cousins with it...Your cousin Jocelyn witnessed the _whole_ thing. He did some...some horrible things to Aunt Florinda, Jocelyn, Janelle, and Kendrick. When he wasn't looking Jocelyn called the police. That man killed Florinda, Janelle, and Kenny. He was about to kill Jocelyn when the police showed up. I'm so sorry, girls."

Ashley had always been incredibly close with Aunt Florinda. Janelle was her favorite cousin, and one of her dearest friends. It was the worst thing she had ever gone through in her life. And she had been through a lot. Why do bad things happen to such good people? After the shock wore off, Ashley found herself more _mad_ than sad. She was mad at Aunt Florinda for being so careless. For bringing a complete stranger into a house with three children. It wasn't just her own life she had put on the line, but the life of her own kids! How careless does a person have to be to do something like that?

Ashley found herself being mad for a few months. She hadn't even willed herself to cry until three weeks after she found out. Eventually, she just let it all go. She found herself screaming and crying at the same time. It was the hardest thing she and her family had ever been through. Everybody at Hogwarts had found out about that though, because Janelle, Kenny, and Jocelyn were students there. Jocelyn had graduated a year ago, and felt guilty for the whole thing. Ashley's mum had told her that that was called survivor's guilt. When your brother, your sister, and your mum die, but you don't, you tend to feel guilty. Ashley had thought about it, and thought she would feel the same way Jocelyn did - not that the incident was her fault or anything. But what made her live while her family died? Was it destiny? Were Florinda, Janelle, and Kendrick destined to die? Was Jocelyn meant for something in life? Only time would tell.

Ashley had thought in the back of her head that this was the memory she would see. She knew that she couldn't handle one more memory. She felt herself dying inside. She felt the life literally being sucked out from her. There was nothing to do now but wait...Simply wait to die. Ashley felt herself being transported back, and cried. She cried for what seemed like days. Why had this happened to her? Nobody deserved this

_I am dying. I am dying the slowest, most painful death possible._

No, you're not. Pull yourself together. You have so much to live for.

_Like what? Everytime I get close to someone, they either die or I get hurt. What's the point?_

Don't be so negative. You have family and friends who love you.

_Don't drag them into this. Just leave me alone to die in peace, okay?_

I'm just as stubborn as you are, and I'm not leaving you alone until you get the hell up, and fight back.

_Well, save your breath. You won't convince me to do anything._

Wanna bet? By letting yourself die, you'll only cause pain to those you're trying to hard to protect. Is that what you want?

_No..._

Do you want to hurt them by willingly giving up your life like this? Or do you want to be brave and fight back? You're a Gryffindor, and it's time you start bloody acting like it.

Ashley slowly rose her hand to her face and wiped at the tears. She hesitantly sat up, and took a deep breath. "I-I'm not dead."

&&

"Come on, Ashley. Please wake up. _Please!_" Sirius shouted. He held back the tears that were now prickling his eyes. "C'mon, Ash. Be strong." He looked down at her, trying to convince himself that everything was going to be okay. But what if it wasn't?

&&

"Remus! Did you find anything?" Nicole questioned, sitting down beside him in the library.

"I'm sorry, Nicole. There wasn't anything," Remus said reluctantly.

"Well...you tried. Thanks for that. W-Will you come with me to see her? I can't face it alone."

"Sure."

&&

Lily found herself flipping through a photo album of her seven years at Hogwarts with her friends. She felt tears stream down her face everytime there was one of Ashley. Lily didn't know what to do anymore. She felt bad for not going to the Hospital wing more often, but she couldn't bear to see Ashley like this. It made her burst out into tears.

"L-Lily? Are you okay?"

Lily turned her head. "Oh...Hi, James. Yeah, I-I'm all right."

"Are you sure? Is there anything I can do for you?" James asked concernedly.

"No, but thanks." _He's being so sweet. I like this side of him._

"No problem, Lily. I'm on my way to see her...Would you like to join me?"

Lily had to muster up all of the strength and bravery she had to say "Yes."

&&

Sirius was staring down at Ashley. He was looking at her so intently that he now knew every single detail of her beautiful face. If he closed his eyes, he could still see exactly what she looked like. Every little detail. Suddenly, something happened that made Sirius jump. Her eyes fluttered! Or had he just imagined that? He looked at her even more intently than he had before. It happened again! He was deffinitely not seeing things.

"Ashley?" he called quietly. Then, a bit more loudly, "Ash!"

&&

Suddenly, Ashley was in the Hospital Wing. She had no idea how she was transported back to her body, and frankly, she didn't really care. She was just so happy to be home. She felt her eyes fluttering open and shut, and she fought hardly to keep them open. After about four tries, she got them to remain open. "S-Sirius."

"Ashley! Oh, thank god!" Sirius cried in joy. His hand was still wrapped around hers, and, noticing this, he pulled it away. "Are you all right? Are you in any pain?"

"Physically or emotionally?" Ashley replied with a small smile.

"Both."

"Physically, I'm fine. Emotionally...," she trailed off.

"Can you promise me something?" Sirius questioned.

"Depends. What is it?"

"That you'll tell me about what happened," Sirius replied, "When you're ready of course," he added.

"I'll try," she muttered quietly. "But I can tell you one thing now..."

"What's that?"

"Well...When I was...wherever the hell I was...I got pretty desperate to contact someone from here. I concentrated really hard and I heard you and James talking..."

Sirius blushed a bit, but just said, "Did you?"

"Yeah...," before she knew what she was doing, Ashley flung her arms around his neck, and whispered, "Thank you."

"For what?" Sirius asked.

"For caring."

&&

**Will Ashley stick to her plan of just being friends? Does that _ever_ work out? What about James and Lily? How and when the hell are they going to get together? And will Nicole go insane? Guess you'll just have to read the next few chapters to find out. Mwahahahaha. Hope you liked it, and please review!**


	8. Misery Loves Company

**Okay, so is anyone even still reading this? If you are, please show it by reviewing! Unless you guys hate it and think I should just delete this story right now...**

_**Misery Loves Company**_

"Sirius, please...I'm fine now. Get out of here, you must have something better to do than sit around here."

"Something better than sitting with you? Impossible."

"Please, Sirius. Can you just do it for me?"

"Well, when you put it that way..._Fine_, but I'll be back in a couple of hours."

"Fine. Seeya."

&&

"I'm so happy that she's all right!" Nicole cried gleefully.

"Yeah, me too," Lily agreed.

"I wonder if she'll ever tell us about what happened to her," Nicole said thoughtfully.

"I think she will in her own time," Lily replied with a nod.

Just then they heard somebody clambering through the portrait hole, and looked to see who, wondering if Madam Mullins actually let Ashley escape from her clutches. "Sirius! I'm surprised you remembered your way back here after so long," teased Nicole.

"She begged me to find something better to do."

"She doesn't like it when people feel sorry for her," Lily explained with a shrug.

"Or when they worry about her. Or when she's at all vulnerable," Nicole added.

"I've noticed," Sirius mumbled

&&

"So, Prongs...How are things going with Lily? I heard her call you James the other day. That's a big improvement, eh?"

"Isn't it? I'm so glad that we can have a conversation now without a single insult. It's incredible!" James replied joyfully as he shoveled some food into his mouth.

"That's great. I'm really happy for you."

"What about you Moony? Do you have a thing for anyone? Lori, perhaps? Or Dawn or Nicole?"

"I-I dunno, Prongs...Let's not get into it."

"Aw, come on! I can help you out," James pressed.

"No, really," Remus said earnestly, "don't bother."

&&

Lori and Dawn were walking down the corridors to the great hall for some lunch. They had just come back from seeing Ashley, and were in a good mood because she really was doing much better.

"Hello, James. Hi, Remus!" Lori said cheerfully as she began piling food onto her plate.

"Hey," the boys chorused.

"Have you been to see Ashley yet?" Remus questioned.

"Oh, yes. We just came back from seeing her. We're just so happy to see her awake. She was laughing as if nothing happened," Dawn replied with a grin.

"Was she angry about Sirius still being there?" James asked.

"Oh, Sirius wasn't there," Lori replied, beginning to eat.

"_What_?" James asked, clearly surprised.

"Guess she finally got him to leave, eh?" Remus said with a shrug.

"Guess so...," James said.

Lori quickly finished eating, said good-bye to everybody, and made her way down the hall. She had to meet her boyfriend, Richard at the library. He was a Ravenclaw, so they didn't get to spend much time together. Lori was walking to the library when she heard a startling noise. She stopped dead in her tracks, and listened. "Richie, don't!"

Lori's mouth fell to the floor. She walked over to the closest broom cupboard, and opened it. "Richard!". There, she saw her boyfriend, Richard Sharp with Pritha Shirali. Lori felt the anger and hurt building up inside of her. Instead of going off on him then and there, she slammed the door shut, and began to walk away. She heard cries of "Lori, wait!" and "I didn't mean to!". Yeah, right. What did he do, think the broom cupboard was a classroom, accidently find some Pritha in there, trip, and her lips broke his fall? Get real.

She ran the rest of the way outside, and sat by the lake. She heard a noise behind her, and took in a deep breath. "Go away, Richie!"

"It's not Richie...Are you okay?"

Lori turned around. "Oh, sorry, Remus. I thought you were Richie..."

"I guess misery really does love company," Remus said, sitting beside her on the ground.

"He-He cheated on me, Remus!" Lori cried, wiping at a tear.

"I'm really sorry, Lori," Remus said seriously, "You could do better though. You deserve better."

"Th-Thanks, Remus...Are you okay?" she said, noting that he didn't look too good.

"Yeah, I'm just feeling a little sick, that's all."

"Do you need to go the the hospital wing?" Lori asked, concerned.

"Nah, I think I'll be all right, thanks."

&&

"It's Lori, isn't it?"

"What are you on about, Prongs?" Remus asked confusedly the next morning on their way to breakfast.

"You like her, eh?"

"She's my friend, sure," Remus said with a shrug.

"For a smart guy, you're utterly clueless," James noted with a sigh. "I saw you hugging her by the lake."

"Her boyfriend cheated on her, James. I was just comforting her," Remus said, throwing his hands up as if to say 'it was all innocent'.

"Uh-huh...Sure, mate," James said, and with his signature grin, he got up and walked away.

Remus shook his head at his friend, and poured himself some pumpkin juice. He was about to take a sip when he felt hands around his eyes. "Guess who?"

"Hey, Nicole," Remus said as she pulled her hands away and sat down.

"Hi Re-Whoa, are you okay? No offense, but you don't look too good," Nicole commented, as she paid for her copy of _The Daily Prophet_.

"Oh, I'm all right. I just didn't get much sleep last night," Remus replied

"Well, you need to get more sleep," Nicole stated, wagging a finger at him, and opening up the newspaper.

"Yeah. I'll try."

&&

It was the first sunny day in quite a while. Almost everybody was outside, and it was an especially nice day because it was the day Ashley would finally get to set foot outside of the Hospital Wing. At 10 in the morning, Lily, James, Sirius, and Nicole came to get her. Ashley had just gotten out of the shower, and was happy to be able to wear her own clothing again. She missed doing her hair, she missed her clothes, and she missed her make-up.

Ashley really went all out to make up for the time she had spent without looking her best. She had on a black, red, and white plaid mini skirt, a black tank top, and a red sweater. She had even put waves in her naturally straight hair, and put on more make-up than usual.

"Jeez, Ash. Where's the fashion show?" Nicole questioned.

"Very funny. You try going without clothes and make-up for as long as I did and see how you feel when you get the change again. I miss looking pretty," Ashley replied, throwing some of her stuff into a bag, and following her friends out of the Hospital Wing.

"Oh please, Ashley. You're beautiful without make-up," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"You're my friend. You _have_ to say that."

"No, I don't. I can say that you look like hell, but that would be a lie," Lily replied.

"Sure, Lils," Ashley said, deciding to drop the conversation, and continued with, "C'mon, let's go outside. I miss fresh air."

The five of them made their way outside and they sat down by the lake. "Hey, there's Moony," James commented, nodding toward a boy sitting under a tree, reading a book. The five of them called him over, and Remus joined them.

"Nice to see you out and about," Remus said brightly to Ashley. He was looking much better than he had the day before.

"Thanks, Remus," Ashley said kindly, pushing the hair out of her face.

Everybody began staring at Ashley. They all wanted to know what had happened to her on that other plane. Ashley knew that her friends were worried and that they wanted answers, but she just wasn't ready to give them. Not yet anyway. Without even confirming if this was the reason that her friends with staring, Ashley simply said, "Let me just enjoy the day. I want one day with no drama, just fun with my friends. Is that too much to ask?"

All of them shook their heads or muttered "No" and they went on to have a fun day, talking of nothing too serious, with jokes and laughter. It was just how Ashley wanted to spend the day before she would have to tell them everything. But that was tomorrow's problem.

&&

"So...He tried to...to..."

"Yes."

"Ashley, why the bloody hell didn't you ever tell us this before?" Lori asked angrily. She wasn't angry at Ashley, but she was angry about what had happened to her.

"I-I was embarrassed," Ashley admitted, her cheeks turning red.

"Embarrassed about _what_?" Dawn asked, not angry, just confused.

"I don't know. I didn't want you guys thinking that I couldn't take care of myself. That I was a wimp or something," Ashley replied quietly.

"Ashley, trust me, we think you're anything but a wimp," Remus told her earnestly.

"Is he in jail?" Lil questioned.

"Yeah. And his brother's a near cripple."

"That's horrible. I just wish you would have told us. We could have helped you deal with it. That's what friends are for," Nicole told her.

Everybody was amazed at the story they had just heard. Some of them were angry, some were upset, and some were just confused. As soon as Ashley had told all of her friends her story, she knew she shouldn't have hid it for so long. These were her dearest friends, and she should be able to trust them with anything. They knew she wasn't a wimp!

_But maybe I am a wimp. I was too much of a wimp to get Dylan off. I was too much of a wimp to tell my friends about this. I'm a wimp._

&&

It was a record. Three whole days of nothing but sunshine. Not that anybody was complaining. There had been rain for the past week and a half, and everybody was glad to know that sunlight did in fact still exist.

"So, I hear you like Lori."

Remus was outside reading again, and he looked up at the sudden intrusion. "And I suppose James told you that?"

Nicole shrugged. "Possibly." She began picking up some rocks, and throwing them into the lake, not looking directly at him.

"Are you...Are you okay?"

"I'm peachy, Lupin. Just peachy freaking keen." And then, as Nicole was collecting more rocks to throw into the lake, she lost her balance, and was swallowed by the lake.

"Nicole!" Remus shouted, running down to where she had been standing. Without thinking about it, Remus jumped into the icy water, and opened his eyes in search of her. He couldn't see well under the water. There was a lot of seaweed and the water was quite cloudy, but he continued to look for her. After a bit of searching, he saw some very familiar dark hair down at the floor of the lake.

He swam as fast as he could down to her. He grabbed her, and tried as hard as he could to make it back up to the surface. Remus was incredibly determined, and he wouldn't go down without a fight. Finally, he got to the surface, carrying Nicole. He tried to feel for a pulse, but how do you feel something that isn't there? There was no way. She couldn't be...dead.

**Or could she? Guess you'll just have to read the next chapter to find out, eh? Haha, I'm soo evil. Poor Nicole **


	9. Duck Toes and Pennycell Lovers

**I'm getting really upset with my lack of reviews : Is the story really that bad that I should just give up right now? Please review me and tell me if it's even worth continuing. I really like this story, and would like to continue it, but what's the point if nobody is reading? Somebody, ANYBODY please read and review. It would mean the world to me :**

_**Duck Toes and Pennycell Lovers**_

"...And After they had Andrea they left Little Rocky Dahms and moved to Yorkshire Falls where they had me, Aly, Lonny, Amy, Lexi, and Ava."

"Where do you live now?" Sirius questioned with interest.

"I'm still in Yorkshire Falls. What about you?"

"Well, before moving in with Prongsie, I sadly lived in Bradford Bay, on Grimmauld Place," Sirius replied with a shudder.

"It's so horrible about your family. It's a good thing you turned out decent," Ashley said thoughtfully.

"Well, I may be decent, but as you know, I'm no angel," Sirius said with a small grin, looking down.

"I'm really sorry for being so mean all of these years."

"Don't be. It's what drew me to you in the first place."

Ashley looked at him contemplatively. She had been very, very wrong about Sirius. He was a really great guy, who had just given up a perfectly good afternoon to listen to her life story. And the best part? He seemed genuinely _interested _in her life and in her family. Not like most guys who pretend to be interested to get you into bed.

"Come on," Ashley said with a smirk. She went upstairs to the boys dormitory, and quietly opened the door. Empty! Great.

"Er-Ashley? W-What are we doing?" Sirius questioned, silently hoping his dreams were about to come true.

She didn't reply. She ran over to James' bed, and started going through his trunk. Finally, she found what she was looking for. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Ashley quickly scanned the map. "Okay. James is patrolling the corridors with Lily. Remus is out by the lake, and Peter's stuffing his face. Excellent."

"What are we doing?" Sirius repeated.

She finally looked up at him and his startled face. Then, realization dawned on her, and she quickly said, "Oh merlin! Sirius...I didn't bring you here for...to have sex."

"Then...umm...What are we doing here, Ash?"

"Pranking."

&&

_Please, don't die. Don't die. Don't die_, Remus thought fiercely as Madam Mullins began working on Nicole. "Mr. Lupin - Please go. I need my space in here, and I'd perfer her to have no visitors at the present time."

Remus walked down the halls and on the grounds, with no destination in mind whatsoever. He was thinking back, trying to remember if there was anything he could have done differently to get her out of the water faster. He couldn't think of anything though, and he wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse.

"Remus? Are you okay?"

Remus spun around quickly to see who had intruded on his thoughts. "Oh, Lori. No, I suppose I'm not okay...It's Nicole. She fell in the lake, and she's not doing so good."

"_What_? Can we go see her?" Lori asked nervously.

"Madam Mullins said no visitors," Remus replied bitterly.

"Stupid hag," Lori muttered.

&&

_I want to ask her so badly. But what if she says no? There's no way I can handle even one more rejection. _James was having a private argument with himself as he patrolled the halls with Lily. She seemed to be in a daze, lost in thought too. They hadn't exchanged many words, but the silence was pretty comfortable.

_What if he never asks me out again?_ Lily thought to herself frantically. _What if all of those years of rejection finally got to him, and now he won't even bother? Or worse - What if he just doesn't like me anymore? Maybe that's why he's been so nice lately! Maybe he's only a jerk to people he likes. Oh, bugger._

And then, at the same time, James said "Lily-I" and Lily said "James-I" they both giggled nervously.

"You can go first, James."

"No, Lily, I insist."

Lily sighed deeply. She was afraid of that. "Well um...You see...Uh...There's um...a...a...a Hogsmeade..." Lily found herself stammering uncontrollably. _Screw this_, Lily thought angrily. Without thinking about it, she stopped walking, making him stop too. She turned to him and kissed him softly on the lips.

And through that kiss, it was decided they would go to Hogsmeade together.

&&

"Alrighty, so you take care of spray cheesing the bed."

"Do you have something against Prongs?" Sirius asked with a laugh.

"He put porn and some...toys...on my bed when he knew I'd be doing some stuff with...someone," Ashley said vaguely.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. James puts that stuff on your bed, you come in snogging some guy, he sees it, and thinks you're a dirty perv? Wait...You were snogging a guy in your room?" Sirius asked as realization hit.

"Yeah."

"But I thought you don't date."

"I don't. I don't open my heart to anyone, but I do have some fun here and there. You of all people understand that," Ashley replied with a shrug.

"I...I guess." She had him there.

They finished turning James' part of the dorm into a battle zone, and went down to the common room. Just as they were getting ready to sit down, someone came through the portrait hole screaming, "ASHLEY!"

"Dawn? What is it?" Ashley questioned nervously.

"It's Nicole...She's in the hospital wing!"

&&

"So, do you like her?"

"Like who?" Remus questioned.

"Nicole!" Lori answered, looking at him strangely.

Remus stared at her confusedly. Was she jealous? She was still staring at him with a pained expression. "Remus, I like you," Lori admitted after almost five minutes of silence.

"Lori, I like you too-," but he was cut off by Lori pressing her lips against his.

&&

"She may only have 5 visitors at a time. She's sinking in and out of consciousness."

Remus, Lori, Sirius, Ashley, and Dawn entered quietly. Dawn sat next to her on her right, and pushed the hair out of her face. Ashley and Sirius stood at her left, just gazing down at her. Remus didn't even want to look at her. Lori wrapped her arms around Remus' waist and buried her face in his chest.

Then, her eyes fluttered open, and she uttered three words before sinking out of consciousness yet again. "Get him out."

Everybody looked at Remus confusedly. A hurt and angry expression crossed his face, but he untangled himself from Lori, and walked out without a word.

&&

**Sirius' P.O.V.**

I, Sirius Black, am the happiest guy on the face of the Earth. It all started Thursday morning. I found myself falling more for Ashley everyday, and I did anything I could to make myself stop. I focused on her bad qualities. Or at least, I tried. For example, Ashley has a horrible habit of biting her hair. The girl seriously doesn't let five minutes go by without chewing her hair. I used to tease her about it all the time. So, there I was at breakfast, watching the girl chew her hair, and thinking about how disgusting it was, and all of the sudden, I found it cute, and I just stared at her, and smiled as she chewed on her hair. I'm in serious need of help.

Then, in Charms, we got paired together for some stupid assignment. I thought about how stubborn and bossy she was when it came to assignments, and it made me want to work with her even more! Somebody kill me now.

So, by dinner time, I was in love with Ashley Hartford's flaws as much as I was in love with her. I loved them because they were a part of her. And then, I hit myself in the head, which earned me strange looks from everybody.

"Hey, Ashley," I said despite the little voice in the back of my head, "Would you mind helping me out with some homework tonight?"

"Sure. Just not in the library."

"Okay then, where?"

"I'd say my dorm, but one male plus one female in a dormitory equals shagging in Siriusland, which is not what we're going to do," Ashley teased.

"Please, Ashley. I'm not going to molest you if we study in your dormitory."

"Good. Cause I'd never speak to you again."

So, I'd really have to control myself. After dinner, James and Lily went off to do some "patrolling" which we all knew was code for snogging. Lori was off somewhere with Remus, and Dawn was visiting Nicole.

"All right. What is Black Cat Bone used for?" Ashley asked me. We had just gone over this moments ago. What was it...Oh, right!

"It's used as a good luck charm!" I replied, happy to have remembered.

"Good job, Sirius. You're doing really well," Ashley said happily, glad to have made some progress with me.

"Thanks. You're really good at this."

I stared at her happily. I really thought that I'd just sit here and stare at her the whole night while she tried to store some knowledge into my brain. But I was wrong. I got to learn and stare. How great was that?

I tore my gaze away from her perfect face, and looked around the room. I looked at the floor and spotted some nail polish. I grabbed a bottle, shook it, and started painting her toes. The only reason I know what the bloody stuff is is because over the summer, I dated quite a few muggles, and they'd always tell me about how they "went to get their nails painted with so and so"

"Woah, what's up with your feet?" I asked with a laugh.

"What about my-Oh, that." She started blushing a bit, but was still smiling, "I-er-have webbed toes." Luckily, it wasn't _all_ of her toes. The second and third toe on both feet were connected by some skin.

"That's freaky, but in a cool way," I commented, continuing my painting.

"Thanks...I think."

Ashley grabbed something from her trunk. It was paper and a wooden stick. "What's with the stick?" Ashley laughed crazily, so I stopped painting her toes, allowing her to finish with the laughter. "What may I ask is so funny?"

"It's called a-a pencil, Sirius," Ashley laughed. She put the stick on the paper and drew a smiley face. "It's something muggles use to write with."

"Why don't they use quills?" I asked confusedly.

"Because it's the twentieth century," Ashley replied with a giggle.

"Can I have one of those pennycells?" I asked excitedly.

"Sure. But um...They're called pencils," she said with a smile, handing me one. I examined it, and then I looked down into her trunk again. There were more of these pennycells. One of them was blue and even had her name engraved in it!

"What kind of magic did you use for that?" I asked in awe at my new discovery.

"The magic of a credit card," Ashley replied, laughing again.

"A what?" I asked dumbly.

"It's...It's where you use a card to pay for things," Ashley explained.

"Really? That's fascinating," I said earnestly, earning another giggle.

I smiled, put the pencil she gave me in my pocket, and continued painting her toes. Ashley has the smallest feet I've ever seen. Seriously. In sizes, I'd say she'd only be about a 3 or a 4, if she was lucky.

"My art is now complete," I said, smiling at her toes. I picked up a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and fanned her toes with it, helping them dry faster. Ashley looked at her feet and smiled. After I was satisfied that they were dry, I put the newspaper down.

"Yeah. And now it's my turn." She pulled out some nail polish, and grinned. I jumped up off of the bed and backed away.

"I think not."

"Aw, come on. Don't be a baby," Ashley called, chasing me around the room. She jumped on top of me, knocking me onto Nicole's bed. She was on top of me, shaking the bottle of nail polish threateningly. And then I heard the door creak open. Ashley heard it open too, because she jumped up in the blink of an eye.

"H-Hi guys," Ashley said, forcing a smile.

"Are we interrupting something?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, please, Lily. I was only trying to paint his nails," Ashley said, rolling her eyes.

"Sure. Guys and nail polish don't mix, Ash," James told her.

"Sure they do!" Ashley said joyfully, gesturing at her feet, "See what Sirius did? I don't even need to pay for pedicures anymore!"

"Not in cash anyway," James muttered, but it seemed I was the only one who heard, so I gave him a dirty look.

"What are you two doing up here, anyway? The halls weren't quite comfortable enough for shagging?" I countered.

"Shut up, Padfoot," James muttered.

"Actually, we came up here to look for you," Lily replied.

"Well, I'm gonna head to my dormitory," I said, pulling the pennycell out of my pocket, and holding it.

"Why are you carrying a stick, Padfoot?" James questioned, and then added, "That sounded kind of wrong, didn't it?" Ashley nodded in response.

"It's called a pennycell, Prongs. You write with it, but you don't even need ink! It's _in_ the pennycell," I said, getting excited again.

"Pencil!" Ashley and Lily corrected at the same time, exchanging glares, and then a little laugh.

&&

**Ashley's P.O.V.**

I ran my fingers through my hair. Madam Mullins assured us a million times that Nicole would be just fine, but I couldn't help but worry. It's what friends do. I continued what I was doing, hardly letting myself blink. I had to get every little detail in. And then, I heard the door open behind me. I put down my pencil, and turned around.

"Hey, Remus. How are you doing?"

"Oh, Hi Ashley. I'm doing okay. Full moon's coming up though. Lori wanted to hang out that night, and I had to say I was tutoring Sirius," Remus replied tonelessly.

"So, you and Lori, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Why are you doing this, Remus?" I questioned, shaking my head at him.

"Doing what?" Remus responded confusedly.

I guess even boys that were as clever as Remus could still be pretty thick at times. I don't get how he couldn't see it. It was pretty bloody obvious. Not just to me, but to Lily, Dawn, Sirius, and James.

"Why are you dating Lori when you're crazy about Nicole?"

"Oh," something gave me the feeling that Remus had known what I was talking about all along, but just wanted to avoid talking about it, "I like Lori, but she's not Nicole. I mean, Lori likes me and Nicole apparently hates me. And I do like Lori. I'm just...not in love with her."

"Then spare yourselves both the heartache. Nicole doesn't hate you. She's only angry because she thought you liked her, and then she sees you with Lori, which makes her feel like an utter fool. They're both my friend, but Nicole is the one for you, Remus. Lori will get over it. She always does."

"I'll think about it," Remus said, stepping closer to me. He looked down at what was in my lap, and I actually saw a smile cross his face. "You're really good at that, you know. It's so realistic."

"Thanks, Remus," I said with a smile, looking down at my drawing. I had been drawing my whole life, and I loved it. I drew everything and everybody. That was the only reason I had brought pencils to Hogwarts. I brought all of my art supplies with me almost everywhere I went.

That night, I sat up in the common room alone. I had my pajamas on and was humming as I drew. When I was confused or angry or upset, drawing was my way out. It was like I was in my own little world, and nothing could bother me there. It was my escape from reality. I had a few talents, but drawing was by far my favorite. It was a talent that not many people knew about.

James, Remus, Lily, Nicole, Dawn, and Lori knew about it, but that was it. At home, my bedroom walls were covered with paintings and drawings I did. I'm one of those you-don't-understand-me-and-you-don't-know-me people who sit in their bedroom drawing and blasting rock music. I wasn't gothic, I was just original. I was my own person and I wasn't afraid to let people know it.

I heard somebody coming down the stairs. I turned my head slightly to get a look at who. "Trouble sleeping, Sirius?"

"Yeah. I was up thinking about some things."

"Some things like what?" I questioned, making room on the couch. He sat down and gazed in the dying fire for a few moments before looking at me.

"Just my family. Now that it's my last year here, they're really trying to recruit me to the dark side. They're calling me filthy names because I'm such a blood traitor, and they're going on about how my prat of a brother is the pride and joy of the family. They're just so proud that he wants to join those filthy Death Eaters," Sirius responded disgustedly.

"I'm sorry about that. You're a good guy, Sirius, and you deserve a better family. But you're also a strong guy, and after this year, you'll never have to see them again. You'll be free."

He looked at me gratefully. His greyish blue eyes were now softer and less angry. "Thanks. So, I suppose you're having trouble sleeping too?"

"Kind of," I admitted, setting aside my drawing.

"What's on your mind?"

"Everything, really. My future, my past, Nicole, just everything. I'm scared about what's going to happen after Hogwarts. I'm scared that my past is going to come back and bite me in the arse again. I'm scared for Nicole. I'm just scared, and I hate being scared. It makes me feel vulnerable and weak."

"Being scared doesn't make you vulnerable or weak. It makes you human," Sirius told me earnestly.

I looked up at him and wrinkled my nose. Then I sighed. "I suppose you're right."

"Hey, I'm Sirius Black. _Of course _I'm right," he said jokingly, and I gave a small laugh.

&&

Saturday was a Hogsmeade day. Everybody was meeting up with their dates, Lily included. James and Lily were one of the first to leave the castle. Of course, Ashley, Sirius, and Remus could have just taken the carriages to Hogsmeade, but what was life without a bit of rule breaking? They snuck into Hogsmeade through the tunnel that led to Honeydukes, talking along the way.

Actually, the real reason that they had used the tunnel, was that Remus wanted to avoid Lori. They hadn't made any official plans for Hogsmeade, but this was just to be safe.

"Mate, you've got to break up with her. This is getting ridiculous," Sirius commented. And it was true. It was getting rather ridiculous. Remus sighed, and threw his hands up in defeat.

"Fine. I'll do it tonight," Remus said, and they made their way out of Honeydukes.

"Remus! Hey, Remus!" Remus' eyes grew wide, and he sighed. Lori dragged him to Madam Puddifoot's, leaving just Ashley and Sirius.

"And then there were two," said Sirius.

"Yup. What do you want to do? Zonko's?" Ashley suggested happily.

"You bet. Race ya there," Sirius said happily, running toward the joke shop.

"No fair, you cheated!" Ashley yelled, sprinting after him. She finally caught up to him, and then passed him. She sat down in front of the shop, and casually looked at her nails. When Sirius caught up to her, she said, "About time, slow polk."

"You cheated," Sirius decided. Ashley looked at him incredelously.

"_I_ cheated? You ran off while saying 'Race ya there'. I'm just faster than you, Black. Face it."

"Whatever you say, Duck Toes," Sirius joked back as they entered the shop.

&&

**Sirius' P.O.V.**

"Where in Merlin's name is Ashley?" I questioned. It was now 7:30, and we had plans to work on our Potion's Essays. Ashley was one of Slughorn's favorites, and she was a know-it-all in that class. In every class, really. In class, Ashley was a smart know-it-all, and outside of class she was a trouble making rebel, who loved to snog in her spare time. Ashley had been with quite a few guys, but she wasn't a brainless slut. She had lots of brains, and hadn't been with enough guys to be counted as a slut.

"A sickle says she's in a broom cupboard," James answered, trying to concentrate on some of his homework. "She really is the female you. Only with brains."

"I resent that," I said, crossing his arms.

"Whoa. What is that around your neck?" James questioned, laughing insanely.

I looked down and smiled. I had put the pencil on a chain around my neck. "It's my new good luck charm."

"That's scary, Sirius. Really scary, mate."

&&

**Ashley's P.O.V.**

I walked as fast as I could to get to the common room, where Sirius was waiting to go over the Potion's Essay with me. I was too tired to run, so I just walked at a semi-fast pace. I had just finished up prefect duties with Moony, who had gone to break up with Lori, looking miserable. I wished him luck, and was now walking to the common room.

"Hello, mudblood."

I spun around quickly to see who was speaking. "What did you just call me, Black?"

"I called you a mudblood. That's what you are, isn't it?"

"Don't make me hex you," I threatened.

But he got to me first. He hexed me so that I couldn't move, and held me against a wall. Curse Sirius' Dark Arts loving brother. I knew I was in some big trouble.

**So what did you think of this chapter? Was it any good? I really hope so, because it took a while to write. I tried to think of different sitautions and stuff to put the characters in, and I tried to make this chapter as light hearted as possible so people wouldn't be so depressed while reading. Did I achieve my goal? Please let me know in a nice review, because I'm really really lacking reviews. Somebody please tell me if my story is any good, and if I should bother continuing. It would really mean a lot. Thanks, bye.**


	10. The Rescue

**Well, sorry this took so long to get up, but I was kind of waiting to see if I would get any reviews if I didn't update for a while. Thanks to the few who did. (Smiley0531,FariesandDragons911) Please review me, it means a lot, and the more reviews I get, the faster Chapter 11 will come.**

_**The Rescue**_

**December 13th, Overview P.O.V.**

"You really poisoned him, didn't you?" Regulus questioned. He smacked her. Hard. She tried to grab her cheek, but she remembered she couldn't move. And then, Regulus got even closer, and he put his lips against hers. "My dear brother will love this," he said with a smirk. He threw her onto the ground and kicked her in the face. She felt the blood pouring out of her nose, and then felt Regulus taking off her clothes. _Somebody help me! Stop! Leave me alone!_

She felt him taking off every last bit of clothing until it was just her bra and her knickers. _Don't do this. Don't! _Regulus was going to keep hitting her and soon enough rape her, and there was nothing she could do. History was repeating itself, and Ashley couldn't let it happen.

She felt him touching her, hitting her, kissing her, kicking her, and she couldn't take it. But then she heard a voice. She wasn't fully conscious but she heard voices, dueling, and then heard the sounds of fighting. Fist fighting. Someone was carrying her away. Someone just saved her life.

&&

**Sirius' P.O.V.**

That was it. He had gone too far. I left my brother bleeding and unconscious in the corridor. I took off my cloak, and put it on her. Then, I carried her up to my dormitory. I know I should have taken her to the hospital wing, but she would have been too embarassed to go there in her present state. I'd ask Lily to clear her face up so she didn't have to go to the hospital wing.

I set her down on my bed, and watched as she slept. At 9:00, I heard Lily and James downstairs. Lily sounded very upset. "I don't know where she is, James! What could have happened to her?"

"It's okay, Lily. I'm sure she's all right. Maybe she just needed to clear her head," James said soothingly.

"But I've looked everywhere for her! Outside, the Great Hall, the dormitory, all the corridors, empty classrooms, the Astronomy Tower, _everywhere. _She's vanished!" Lily said, looking determined to not cry.

"She's up here, guys," I said, and they looked up at me strangely. Without a word, they both ran up the steps and into the dormitory.

"Oh no. What the hell happened to her?" Lily asked, looking down at her friend.

"Regulus."

"Why is she wearing your cloak?" James questioned.

"He took her clothes off," I explained quietly.

The three of us gazed down at Ashley as she slept. Lily did all she could to hide the bruises, and stop whatever pain Ashley may be feeling. "This has got to stop. I need to do something about Regulus," I said to James as Lily worked on Ashley.

"Like what?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know. He's pure evil, James. Messing with Ashley was deffinitely crossing the line. I can't let him get away with it," I said viciously.

"But I thought you beat him up? I don't really call that letting him getting away with it," James pointed out.

"I let him off easy. I should have killed the sorry git right then and there," I replied quietly.

"You can't kill him, Sirius," James said, looking a bit alarmed.

"I'm not going to kill him. He's not worth that kind of effort. But I will teach him his lesson somehow."

"Like how?"

"I'll think of something."

&&

**December 14th, Overview P.O.V.**

The next morning Ashley was fine. Her memory of the night before was clearly fuzzy, and Sirius intended to keep it that way. It was a pretty nice day, so James, Sirius, Ashley, and Lily went outside to enjoy the day. Dawn was in the dormitory comforting Lori, who was upset about being dumped by Remus. Remus was now trying to talk to Nicole about the whole mess. Good luck.

"Sirius? Can I talk to you alone for a second?" Ashley questioned. Sirius looked at her curiously, but nodded and followed her to the lake.

"What's up?" Sirius asked.

"It was you who saved me last night, wasn't it?" she asked quietly.

"Er-Well...Wait, you know what happened last night?" Sirius asked her.

She nodded. "Well, kind of..." she trailed off and looked up at him. She then gave him a big hug, and whispered "thank you" into his ear.

"Anytime," he responded. They were both standing there, staring at each other, a million thoughts racing through their heads. And then, Sirius leaned in and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she threw hers around his neck. But as soon as his hands started to wander, she broke the kiss, and stepped backward. "I-I can't. I'm sorry."

And she ran away.

&&

**Sirius' P.O.V.**

I walked aimlessly down the corridors trying to think of a way to get out of the mess I got myself into. I can't believe I did something so stupid. When she was finally becoming my friend, I had to act like an idiot and start snogging her. I managed to ruin our relationship before it even started. That had to be a record.

I came to the conclusion that there was only one way to fix this, and that was just talking to her. I have to explain why I did it, and then apologize as many times as it took for her to forgive me. I was a little scared of that though, because I of all people knew of Ashley's temper. I just hoped that we could at least be friends again by the time I finished talking to her.

I sighed, and prepared to face whatever she had to say.

**Ashley's P.O.V.**

Did Sirius Black really just kiss me? Did I imagine that or something? Damn Sirius Black. When we were finally becoming friends, he kissed me and ruined everything. Why do guys always have to push their luck? I guess it wasn't really his fault though. If he hadn't done it, I might have. Wait, does that mean I _like _Sirius? No way. It's just that he's my friend, and he did something really nice, and just looked so bloody-Okay stop. Talking about how adorable the bloke is is deffinitely not the way to convince yourself you don't have feelings for him.

&&

**Overview**

Remus looked down at the sleeping form of Nicole. He was half hoping she'd wake up, and half hoping she'd remain asleep. She was much more peaceful asleep. But he needed to explain that whole thing with Lori. Remus couldn't make up his mind about which he'd perfer, because just then, her eyes opened, and narrowed as soon as she saw him.

"Lupin...What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," Remus replied nervously.

"Why aren't you off snogging Harrow somewhere?" Nicole asked crossing her arms, and propping herself up a bit.

"I'm not with Lori, Nicole," Remus told her quietly, "Not anymore."

"Aw, what happened?" Nicole asked with mock-concern. Then, she added, "Were you hanging around Sirius too long, and his womanizer ways rubbed off on you?"

"It's not like that, Nikki," Remus tried to explain.

"Don't call me that," Nicole hissed, "Only my friends call me Nikki."

"Nicole, I'm not with Lori because I love you," Remus said quietly and quickly. He then marched out of the room angrily, and stomped back to the common room.

&&

The next day everybody was quite pleased because Nicole was being released. Sirius had still not spoken to Ashley, and Remus hadn't gone back to the Hospital Wing. The only people who seemed generally happy these days were Lily, James, and Dawn. Dawn was now with a Hufflepuff named Nick Dwyer, so there was a permanent grin plastered on her face, as well as Lily and James, who went off to "patrol" every chance they got.

"Ashley? C-Can we talk?" Sirius questioned. Ashley looked up at him, nodded, and followed him outside. "I'm really _really_ sorry about kissing you."

"It's all right, Sirius. You just couldn't resist. I'm very desirable, you know," Ashley said with a smirk.

"That you are," Sirius replied, relieved that she wasn't angry.

"Sirius? Can I ask you a question?" Ashley questioned, suddenly serious.

"Sure," Sirius replied.

"Well...You've liked me for a few years now, right?"

"Right."

"Well, then why did you spend all your time in broom cupboards?"

"I dunno...I guess I didn't want you to know how much I liked you, so maybe I just covered it up by snogging random girls," Sirius replied after a moment of thought.

"I'm sorry, Sirius. I just can't get into anything."

"I know. I know you can't yet."

&&

Sirius desperately needed to clear his head. He decided to take a walk around the school. As Sirius walked, bits and peices of memories he had with Ashley came to him. When they first met, and she didn't hate him yet. The day she began to hate him. All of the times she rejected his date proposals, and so much more came flooding back to him.

Sirius began to walk slower, feeling a bit depressed. He decided he needed to get out of the castle, so he snuck through the secret passageway that only James, Remus, Peter, Ashley, and himself knew about. He decided to go to the Three Broomsticks for a quick firewhisky. He ordered his drink, and took a seat. It's amazing how one simple drink can so easily turn into six.

"...And then I kissed her! She's got such pouty lips. But anyway, she didn't mad even seem! Wait - That's not right. Seem mad even? No, That's not right either. Ah, to hell with it! I gotta see her!" Sirius exclaimed, finishing off the sixth drink and sprinting from the Three Broomsticks.

He snuck into Honeydukes, and used the tunnel to get back to Hogwarts. Though, he did fall down a bit much, and it took him much longer than usual to arrive at the castle. He was walking down the corridors when he saw familiar long blonde hair turning the corner. "Ash-ee! Hey, Ash-ee!" he called.

Ashley spun around and started to walk toward him. "Ash-ee! Ah, You're so pretty, you know that? You have nice hair. May I touch it?" And Sirius stuck out his hand, and began petting Ashley like a dog. Ashley looked confused, and frankly, bewildered.

"Sirius, What's gotten into you?"

"Nuffing. Nuffing at all."

"Sirius?"

"Yes, Ash-ee?"

"Walk a straight line."

"Alrighty then. Whatever you say," Sirius said happily. He began walking, then curved to the left, and collapsed.

"Oh, bugger," Ashley stated, picking him up.

"What's wrong, Ash-ee?"

"You, Sirius Black, are drunk."

"AH! Never have I been so insulted," Sirius said, grabbing at the wall to steady himself.

"Ugh, come on," Ashley said, putting his arm around her, and walking toward the Gryffindor common room. Ashley set him on the couch, where he passed out. Ashley quickly ran up to his dormitory and started pounding on the door. "James! _James_!" she called, knocking on the door, trying hard not to wake all of Gryffindor house.

She heard footsteps from beyond the door, and James opened the door, wearing nothing but boxers. Ashley blushed and turned around. "Would you put a bloody robe on?"

"Oops. Hold on," James said, and went back inside. A few seconds later, he was back at the doorway. "Now what happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Would you do me a favor though?" Ashley questioned.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"Count the number of boys in your dormitory." He looked at her blankly for a moment, but then turned around, and counted. "One... Two... Three... Oh, no. Where's Sirius?"

"Sirius, the genius that he is, decided to go get falling down drunk, and I had to carry him onto the couch, where he passed out."

"Bloody moron," James mumbled, gently closing the door to the dormitory, and walking downstairs with Ashley. James levitated Sirius, and set him down on his bed.

The next morning, Sirius woke up with a horrible hangover. He was the only one still in bed, and he heard a knock at the door, that left an even worse throbbing pain in his head. "Come in." he called. Sirius tried to remember what happened last night, but couldn't really remember much. Ashley walked inside the dormitory, looking very cheerful, and handed him a potion's flask. "What is it?" he questioned.

"Hangover Solution. Drink up," Ashley replied, sitting at the edge of the bed.

"Er-What happened last night?"

"Hmm...Cliffnotes version, You got drunk. I found you drunk. Then, I took you back to the common room where you passed out. And then I woke up James to help me get you upstairs."

"Oh, no," Sirius muttered sheepishly.

"Oh, yes," Ashley said with a grin.

**What'd you think? Please please review. I'm pretty sick, so this chapter may not be that good, but I wanted to put something else. Tell me what you think. --Ashley Jacqueline Haley **


	11. A Christmas Miracle

**Ah, I'm so sorry this took so long to get up! But between school and my friends, I just couldn't find the time! But enough of my excuses. Enjoy! Please R&R! **

**A Christmas Miracle**

Soon it was December 20th, and also a Hogsmeade weekend. "What do you want to do?" Lily questioned Ashley and Nicole once they arrived.

"Er - I gotta go Christmas shopping," Ashley said with a small smile, "I'll meet you guys in an hour at the Three Broomsticks, all right?" They agreed, and Ashley set off to get some shopping done.

Half an hour later, she had managed to buy something for Lily, Nicole, Lori, Dawn, James, Remus, and Peter. Now, what to get Sirius? Ashley had no clue what to get him. She was thinking about just sending him a girl, but she figured a human would be a little too difficult to wrap. Ashley let out a sigh.

"What's the matter?" a voice from behind questioned, making Ashley spin around.

"Sirius," Ashley said in a distressed tone, "You have to leave."

"What?" Sirius asked confusedly, "Why?"

"I'm Christmas shopping," Ashley explained.

"Ooh. Getting something for yours truly, eh?" Sirius questioned with a smirk.

"Maybe," she said with a half smile, "Maybe not."

"Oh, your words hurt," Sirius said, looking sad.

"My words won't hurt nearly as much as my fist if you don't get out of here," Ashley told him, putting her hands on her hips.

"Fine, fine," Sirius said, putting his hands up in defeat, "I'll go."

"That's all I ask. I'll see you later."

&&

"So, will you guys be staying at Hogwarts for Christmas?" Nicole asked Sirius and James.

"Yep," James replied, "You're stuck with us."

"Oh joy," Nicole said sarcastically. Just then, Remus walked into the Three Broomsticks. "Shit!" she muttered.

"I didn't know having us around was _that_ bad," Sirius said, looking hurt.

"Not that," Nicole hissed, "Behind you!" And with that, she got up, and left.

"This has _got_ to stop," Lily declared as Remus sat down.

"What's got to stop? Me walking into pubs?" Remus asked confusedly.

"No. You and Nicole. It's driving me mad," Lily responded.

"Hey, this is all her," Remus clarified, "I told her that I ... Let's just say I told her something, and now she's avoiding me," Remus told them with a sigh.

"What did you say to her that's got her like this?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Never you mind, Padfoot," Remus replied, shaking his head.

&&

Later that day, everybody was back in the common room, except for Nicole and Lori. Nicole had locked herself in the dormitory, and nobody really knew where Lori was these days. "Okay, I have a question," Sirius said.

"Oh no," everybody muttered.

Sirius looked offended, but continued anyway. "Girls, do you ever have pillow fights in your underwear?"

"I swear, I can feel my IQ dropping, just listening to him speak," Ashley insisted.

"I know what you mean," Lily agreed.

"Um ... Does that by any chance mean yes?" Sirius questioned hopefully, causing everybody to roll their eyes at him, or throw the closest object at him, "You guys are such kill joys."

"If by kill joy, you mean being realistic, then yes, we're kill joys," Dawn told him.

"Couldn't you have just lied to me though?" Sirius asked.

"And the point of that would be ... ?" Lily inquired.

"Well ... I dunno," Sirius said with a shrug, "But you could at least do be the courtesy - Wait...What were we talking about again?" Sirius asked, his eyes all screwed up, trying to remember.

"I love this guy," Dawn stated, pointing to Sirius, "Being around him makes me feel thirty times smarter."

"Hey, I resent that. I have a freakishy short attention span," Sirius said, crossing his arms, "It's like a disease. You don't make fun of people with down syndrome, do you?"

&&

Remus didn't know what to do anymore. He knew that he had to talk to Nicole, but he was embarrassed about what he said the last time they spoke, and he was a little nervous about talking to her. But nonetheless, he knew he had to speak to her. Remus walked up to Ashley who was reading by the fire.

"Hey, Ash," Remus said quietly.

"Oh. Hiya, Remus," Ashley said cheerfully, setting aside her book.

"Do you by any chance know where Nicole is?" Remus asked, turning slightly pink.

Ashley smiled at him sympathetically, and nodded, "I think she went to the library."

Remus nodded gratefully and left the common room. He slowly walked to the library, not exactly sure of what he would say once he saw Nicole. He walked into the library and looked around. He saw familiar brown hair, and slowly walked over to her. Remus took a deep breath, and cleared his throat to get her attention. And then, the words poured out of him like hot lava.

"I want this to stop, Nicole. We've been good friends for six years, and I want us to stay friends. I won't lie, I'd like more than friendship, but it's become apparent that you're not too happy with me."

"Remus ... Did you mean what you said?"

"What?" Remus questioned.

"The last time we spoke ... Or was it in the heat of the moment?" Nicole asked quietly.

"I - I'm not sure."

&&

Ashley opened her right eye a crack. Then, she opened the other. She looked over to her alarm clock and groaned. 5:27. Ashley sighed and sat up straight. She rubbed her eyes a bit, and stood. She gingerly made her way down to the common room, and sat by the tree. It was lit and beautiful. She smiled a bit, layed back, and looked up at the tree. She then heard a noise coming from behind her, and sat upright to get a look at whoever was awake.

"Ashley. What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I couldn't sleep," Sirius said with a groan, "What about you?"

"I woke up, and didn't feel like going back to bed," she replied with a shrug. She scooted over a bit, and made room for him to sit down beside her.

Sirius looked under the tree, and pulled out a small box wrapped in green and red striped paper with a little gold bow, "Open it."

"Now?" Ashley questioned, and he nodded.

She sighed, and carefully tore the bow off. Playfully, she put it on top of Sirius' head, and then continued to unwrap the rest. There was a white box, so she slowly took off the lid. In the box, was a silver heart shaped locket with lots of designs. On the left side was a picture of Sirius, and on the right was one of Ashley. On the back, 'Merry Christmas, Love Sirius' was engraved. Ashley didn't know what to say. She looked at it, then up at Sirius, and then back at the box. "Oh - Oh my god, Sirius. It's absolutely beautiful. Help me get it on." He smiled broadly, and did as he was asked. She admired it, and then looked him in the eye, "Thank you." He gave her another smile, and she pulled a rather large gift out from under the tree. "Open mine."

Sirius grinned, and tore off the paper to reveal a huge book with a brown leather cover. Written on the cover was 'Hogwarts, A History:Sirius Style'. Sirius' smile widened as he opened the book. The first page had a picture of Sirius on his first day at Hogwarts. It started off with all pictures from first year. A page of him and James as eleven-year-olds, Sirius and Remus, Sirius and Peter, Sirius and Ashley, and then group photos.

It continued that way all the way up to the end of sixth year. But something changed toward the end. All of the pictures of Ashley were gone. That was the period where their friendship was dead. But the last page had a picture from a week ago when Ashley had kissed Sirius on the cheek. Under it was a note, but Ashley covered it with her hand, and blushed. "Read that when you're alone." He nodded, and closed the scrapbook.

"That was amazing Ashley. It was the best gift I was ever given. Truly, it was," Sirius said with a warm smile.

"I'm glad you liked it," Ashley said with a sigh of relief.

"Liked it? I _loved_ it."

Ashley laughed, "That's good to hear."

"What do you say we try to catch a couple more hours of sleep?" Sirius suggested.

Ashley gave a small yawn, "Sounds good to me."

&&

"Ok, I say we poke them with something."

"But what to poke them with?"

"Hmm ... Try your finger."

"Very funny."

"Ooh, they're moving!"

Everybody looked down to see Ashley and Sirius moving a little, and then their eyes opened. "Merry Christmas," Sirius said quietly. "Merry Christmas," Ashley said back. She rolled over and then gasped. "Er-Sirius?" He turned around and turned scarlett.

"Did we walk in on something?" Lily questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"Of course not," Ashley said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, Merry Christmas," Remus said brightly, taking a seat by the tree.

"Where's Nicole?" Ashley inquired.

"No idea. We had a talk last night, and she ran away," Remus shrugged.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Ashley asked.

"I'm fine, actually. I just don't think she's the one. It's just too complicated."

&&

Sirius trudged up to his dormitory, with a bag filled with the presents he received. He climbed into bed and opened up the scrapbook again. When he came to the final page, he remembered the note. He looked at the tiny writing at the bottom. It contained eight words. Eight of the most amazing words he had ever seen in his life. _I'm ready. Come find me, I'll be waiting._ Sirius stared at the words for what seemed like hours. Then, he tiptoed out of the room, and went down to the common room.

There she was, beautiful as ever. All she was wearing was a sweatshirt, flannel pants, and the only visible make-up was some smudged eyeliner. Yet she looked incredible. "Hey, beautiful."

"Haha, I _know_ you're not talking to the girl in the sweats," Ashley said with a smile.

"You're beautiful no matter what."

Ashley blushed and walked toward him, and started kissing him passionately. In between breaths, Sirius managed to choke out "Are--you--sure about--this. Because...last time...you ran...away."

Ashley pulled away. "I wasn't ready then. I am now."

_**PLEASE NOTE: THIS STORY IS FAR FROM OVER. MANY PEOPLE ARE LEAVING REVIEWS THAT MAKE IT SEEM THEY THINK THIS WAS THE FINAL CHAPTER. PLEASE CONTINUE TO CHECK FOR UPDATES. **_

**So what did you think? Please, Please, PLEASE review! Hmm ... last time I offered a virtual hug. This time it's virtual cookies :D Haha. I really hope you liked it. I'm gonna work on the next chapter right now!**


	12. Not So Happy New Year

**Sorry this chapter took so long to get up. Hope you enjoy it though!**

_**Not So Happy New Year**_

"I'm starting to get worried that they can't breathe. They haven't stopped that in an hour," James said disgustedly.

"Well, when they stop breathing, they'll die. And if they're dead, they can stop doing that, cause it's making me vomit a little," Lori stated.

"This is worse than that animal mating special on the discovery channel," Remus said, tilting his head to the side a bit. James and Lori tilted their heads to the side a little bit too, as if to ask, _What's the Discovery Channel?_

"I can't seem to look away though," Peter said in utter fascination.

"We really need to find something better to do with our Friday nights," Lily muttered.

"I second that," James agreed.

"Ah, what have we here? I think they're surfacing for their hourly breath of air," Remus said, giving a small applause.

"You guys are really disturbing the mood," Sirius said in annoyance.

"Then leave," James suggested, making Sirius and Ashley shoot him a dirty look.

&&

Sirius grabbed Ashley's hand as they made their way down the corridor. She smiled softly, and leaned against him, resulting in him putting his arm around her. "What should we do?" Ashley asked.

"Besides each other?" Sirius said with a grin. Then, slapped himself on the forehead, "Sorry."

Ashley giggled, "It's okay, Sirius."

"Why don't we go for a walk outside?" Sirius suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Ashley replied, and they made their way out into the cold December air. She shivered, and he took off his cloak and put it on her. "Why Sirius Black, who knew you could be such a great boyfriend?"

"Uh ... I'll take that as a compliment."

"Sorry, I just didn't know you could be this amazing."

He smiled and looked down at her. Her nose, ears, and cheeks were tomato red, "You're adorable."

"Sirius, I'm betting I look like a red balloon. How is that adorable?"

"I told you, you always are."

"That's so sweet," Ashley said with a grin, "But so totally untrue."

"To me it's true."

&&

Soon enough, it was December 30th, and the gang was having a New Years Party in the Gryffindor common room. "So Lily, who will you be kissing at midnight?" Ashley asked the afternoon of the party. She, Sirius, Lily, and Remus were in the common room. Just then, James walked in and said a quick hello before departing for the staircase. Lily's glare lingered on the stairs where he had left for a moment or so, before answering with, "Who knows?"

"What about you, Remus?" Sirius inquired.

"Er-I dunno."

"Nicole?" Ashley questioned.

"No. Things with her are just complicated. Too dramatic for my tastes."

"Did you love her?" Ashley asked.

"No," he said quietly, but firmly, "Guess she wasn't the one."

"Well, you'll find someone," Ashley said cheerfully, "I'm going to go get ready for the party tonight."

"It doesn't start for five hours," Remus reminded her.

"Oh my god! Five hours? I thought I had six!" Ashley screeched, running up to her dormitory. Lily smiled and followed her upstairs.

"I can't believe you actually managed to make Sirius Black a one-woman man," Lily said incredelously, sitting on the bed.

"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves," Ashley told her, "We've only been going out for a few days."

"But I actually think this is going to last. I mean, I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you."

"Really?" Ashley asked grinning as she pulled a brush through her long golden hair.

"Absolutely," Lily replied.

"You don't think he'll do anything to mess it up?" Ashley asked nervously.

"Well, this _is_ Sirius, so I won't say that it's not possible, but I doubt it. He's head over heels."

"Ya think?" Ashley asked, and Lily nodded, "I think I am too."

"It's so weird that not that long ago, you were at each other's throats."

"Yeah, I know. It's funny how things change."

&&

Ashley smiled as she glared at herself in the mirror. Half of her hair was down, and half of it was in a bun with hair sticking out in a cute way. She wore a black dress with a cross pattern across the neck, and strappy black shoes, and of course some make-up. She was dressed to kill as she made her way down the staircase where the party was just beginning.

"Oh...My...God," Sirius, James, Remus, Peter, and half of Gryffindor house said.

Ashley laughed, "Please tell me that's a good 'Oh my god'."

"That's a _very_ good oh my god. It's so good that I think you should meet me in the closest broom cupboard," James replied, his eyes bulging out of his head.

"Back off, Prongs," Sirius said to his friend, not looking away from Ashley, "She's for me."

Ashley laughed, and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in a kiss. "What I wouldn't give to be Sirius right now," Peter muttered.

Sirius wrapped his arms around Ashley, who said, "What are your news years resolutions?"

"Well, I've achieved my main goal of being with you so I'm good," Sirius replied.

"Don't be so corny, Padfoot," James said with a laugh.

"Don't be so jealous, Prongs," Sirius retorted.

"Mine is to get the girl of my dreams," James said with a sigh, and a quick look at Lily.

"Mine is to make it through the year without accidently killing someone," Remus answered.

"Make it to graduation without getting kicked out of school," Peter replied.

"Well, only one minute and twenty-seven seconds until 1976," Lily said, coming up behind them.

"Yeah. So what's your New Years Resolution, Lily?" Ashley questioned.

"Hmm...I'll get back to you."

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 1. HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everybody cried. Ashley and Sirius kissed, and then remarkably, Lily kissed James. When she realized what she had done, she turned scarlett and ran up to her room. Ashley looked over at Nicole and Dawn. Dawn looked ready to burst out laughing, and Nicole shrugged, and headed for the staircase.

"That was -er- unexpected, eh?" James said, sitting by Ashley and Sirius.

"No kidding. The girl who has hated you for the past seven years just kissed you," Sirius said.

"Have I been drinking too much, or did Lily just kiss you?" Remus asked from behind.

"She kissed him all right," Ashley replied, taking a sip of firewhisky.

"Shouldn't you go talk to her?" Remus questioned.

"Nicole's handling this one," Ashley explained, "But I'm gonna go check on her now."

"I'm such an idiot!" Lily cried furiously.

"Lily, you're _not_ an idiot!" Nicole screamed for the umpteenth time.

"I _kissed _him. I _kissed_ Potter. I _kissed_ James Potter."

"Wait a second! I'm starting to think Lily _kissed _someone. The name isn't clear to me yet though," Ashley whispered to Nicole.

"_Why_ did you kiss him though, Lily?" Nicole asked.

"I-I don't know. Maybe I drank too much?"

"Lily, you drank a butterbeer," Ashley reminded her.

"Well...That stuff must be strong," Lily told them.

"There's nothing in it, Lily!"

"That's just what they want you to think."

&&

A week later, Lily was avoiding James, Nicole was avoiding Remus, Lori was avoiding Nicole, and Sirius and Ashley were as happy as could be. Dawn, Ashley, and Sirius were the only three who were speaking to everybody.

"Ashley darling. Have I told you you look absolutely stunning today?" James said with a grin.

"Hey, back off, man," Sirius told him.

"No, don't worry, Sirius. This is what he does when he wants something from me," Ashley explained, "So what do you need, James?"

"I need you to get Lily to stop avoiding me," James groaned, taking a seat across from Ashley, who sighed.

"I've really been trying, Prongs, but she's so embarassed! Ooh, I have an idea though. Go to the potions section of the library."

"Why?" James questioned skeptically.

"Ugh, just trust me."

James shrugged, stood up, and left the common room. Ashley got up from her seat and went upstairs to find Lily. As Ashley had predicted, she was sitting in bed studying. "Hey, Lily. I was in the library earlier and I saw this book in the potions section you might be interested in. It's by Kendrick Bauren, and Madam Clancy said it was his latest book, and she had just got it in yesterday. You love his books, don't you?"

"Oh yeah. Wow, thanks. I'm gonna go check it out," Lily said excitedly, springing up from her bed.

"No problem," Ashley replied with a smirk.

A few minutes later, Ashley returned to the common room where Sirius was speaking to Remus. Ashley thought that their conversation seemed interesting, so she stood by the staircase so that neither noticed her presence, but she could still hear them.

"Oh god, just tell me!" Sirius cried out in fustration.

"No, Padfoot. It's none of your business, okay?"

"What's the big deal? It's a simple yes or no question!"

"Just forget about it. I'm not going to tell you. Give up."

"You're no fun."

"Then why do you hang out with me?" Remus questioned.

"Becuase when you're in a good mood, you let me copy your homework," Sirius replied with a shrug.

"Nice, Padfoot."

"Whatcha talking about?" Ashley asked, taking a seat on Sirius' lap.

"If Remus ever got-,"

"Chicken pox," Remus finished.

"Chicken Pox?" Ashley repeated.

"Er-Yeah. But I think that's a very personal question that Padfoot should just drop," Remus explained.

"I see..."

&&

Ashley checked the time

&&

_You're in love with her. _No, I'm not. _Yes, You are._ Stop!_ Just admit it._ No way. I can't love her. _You're just scared of how needy and clingy you're being._ I am NOT clingy. _Yeah, right. _Leave me alone._ You loveeee her._ I do not. And I'll prove it.

Sirius was having this battle in his head for two days now. He loved her and he knew it, but he had to make himself stop. Sirius Black could not fall in love. What happens when she comes to her senses and walks out? He wouldn't be able to stand it. And besides, Sirius wasn't the kind of person who enjoyed needing somebody. He suddenly felt claustrophobic. Like he needed air, but he was outside in fresh air, and the closest person was ten yards away. _What did I get myself into?_

Sirius quickened his pace as he walked back into the castle. He wasn't looking where he was going, and walked right into a Ravenclaw girl. "Oh, I'm sorry," Sirius mumbled.

"That's okay, Sirius."

"Er-Do we know each other?"

"Please, who doesn't know you?" the girl questioned. He knew all of the seventh year Ravenclaws, so Sirius figured she was either a sixth or fifth year.

"What's your name?"

"Jasmine Noble."

Jasmine was about 5'6 with long, wavy dark hair, and tan skin. She had violet eyes, and was pretty much gorgeous. She smiled at Sirius and flipped her hair in a flirty manor. "Would you like to take a walk with me?"

"Er-I'd like to, but I sort of have a girlfriend."

"So?"

_Trampy and hott. Just my type, _Sirius thought to himself. _No, You can't do this. Ashley trusts you. You love Ashley._ _ARGHH NO I DONT! I'll prove it right here, right now!_

"Okay."

&&

Nicole peeked her head into the common room. "He's not here," she heard a voice call out, and she sighed in relief. Then, she stepped a little further in. "Hey, James."

"What's up?" James questioned, putting down his Quidditch magazine.

"Nothing. Just got back from studying," Nicole replied with a shrug, "Ugh, I'm starving," she complained.

James grinned mischiveously. "What time is it?"

"Half past seven. Why?"

"Perfect! Come with me," James instructed, flying out of the common room. Nicole hurried to keep up and pretty soon, she realized they were going the kitchens. James tickled the pear, and they entered. A house-elf walked up to them and asked, "Yes, sir and miss?"

"Good evening. Professor Howell, the poor bloke, came down with a nasty cold. He sent me to pick up his evening apple pie. The way he likes it, with his special ingredients."

The house-elf nodded, bowed, and went back to prepare the pie. Nicole shoved James. "What are you doing?"

"Every night at exactly 7:45, Professor Howell comes down here for an apple pie. Of course, we thought of just asking for a regular apple pie. But Professor Howell orders his with some secret ingridients that we can never quite figure out, so we just beat him here, and take his pie. It's all worth it though. It's the most amazing pie you will ever taste in your lifetime."

"Wait...Professor Howell comes for a pie _every night_?"

"How do you think he got so fat, Nicole?" James questioned.

"Hmm...Good point."

A few minutes later, the pie came, and Nicole and James ran for their lives as they heard Professor Howell's booming whistle from the other side of the corridor. They got back to the common room, and burst out into laughter. When Nicole was able to stop laughing, she asked, "How come the house elves still give you the pie? I mean, doesn't Professor Howell come down and then tell the house elves his pie was stolen?"

"I guess. I don't really know what happens. Maybe he orders his pie, and the house elves just make it all over again out of fear? I dunno, and I don't really care."

"Oh my god. This is the most amazing pie I've ever eaten," Nicole said in awe.

"What did I tell you?"

&&

"Hey, Remus. Have you seen Sirius?"

"Hmm...Not since breakfast," Remus replied, "How are you two doing?"

"Great. He's a better boyfriend than I could have possibly imagined."

Remus gave a half smile, and then looked at her curiously. He then patted the seat next to him, and said, "Something's wrong."

"What are you talking about?"

"Something's wrong with you," Remus stated.

"How do you know me this well?"

"We've been best friends for the past six and a half years, so that may have something to do with it," Remus suggested.

"I don't really know what's wrong," Ashley admitted, "Something just doesn't feel _right_. I'm not making much sense, am I?"

"No, you are. That happens sometimes, where things just seem off."

"So you don't think it's anything to worry about?"

"Probably not," Remus said with a shrug, "But what do I know? I've never been in any type of serious relationship."

"You okay, Remus?"

"I-I guess. It's just that I just realized that Sirius has been in a relationship before me. I didn't see that coming."

"Aww. There's someone out there for you, Remus. She'll come along anyday now, you'll see."

"I dunno...I guess you're right."

"I _am_ right."

&&

**Ok, I'm going to try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. please please PLEASE review. **


	13. Mistakes

**Aww I haven't been getting that many reviews. Please read and review this, it means a lot to me.**

_**Mistakes**_

"I can't do this, Jasmine," Sirius said after a moment. He was just being stupid before. He couldn't do that to Ashley.

"And why not?" Jasmine asked angrily.

"Because I'm in love with Ashley Hartford."

&&

Ashley smiled happily as she poured herself some pumpkin juice. Ashley's bracelet slid off and she bent under the table to retreive it. She heard two people walk by while she was under. One of them said, "Have you heard about Jasmine Noble and Sirius Black? They hooked up in the Astronomy Tower last night."

"No way. He's with Ashley!"

"Guess not anymore."

Ashley couldn't speak. She couldn't think. She had no idea what to do. She was just roaming the halls with no destination in mind, when she felt someone put their arm around her. "Hey beautiful."

"Don't give me that crap."

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked worriedly.

"Y-You...And...And her...Astronomy Tower...Why?" Ashley gave him one last hurt look, and ran off, leaving Sirius to chase after her. She flew through the portrait hole, and just as she was about to sprint upstairs, he grabbed her wrist. "Let me go!"

"No!" All of their friends were in the common room, looking at both of them with confusion, but nobody said anything.

"How could you d-do this? I _trusted_ you! I gave you a _chance_!" tears were falling down her cheeks now, "You didn't even last a month. And I had faith in you."

"Ashley, I didn't cheat on you. I swear to you that I didn't. You can ask Jasmine Noble. She hit on me, but _nothing happened_."

"I-I just need to go think."

&&

"It's really over, isn't it?" Sirius asked quietly.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," James said, patting him on the back.

"I can't believe this is real. I miss her already," Sirius said, taking a swig of firewhisky.

"Sirius, that's your fifth firewhisky," Remus pointed out cautiously.

"And your point is?" Sirius asked bitterly. He then sighed and said, "I need to go clear my head. I'll see you guys later."

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?"

"Just for a walk. I need to be alone for a little while, okay?"

"Uh...Fine," James replied.

&&

_That was the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life. I wait four hours after we break up and then sleep with somebody else? She can never find out about this or there's no hope of us getting back together. She actually gave me a chance to change, and I blew it. Should I just tell her? OR should I hide it from her? Why did I do this? _

This was the biggest mistake of Sirius' life, and he regretted it big time. He had no idea why he did such a stupid thing. He finally deicded that he would never tell her.

&&

Lily was on her way to hang out with Lori and Dawn, when a Ravenclaw came up to her. "Hello, Lily, right?" the girl asked politely.

"Yeah, that's me. Um...Who are you?"

"My name's Haylen Noble. Can we talk for a second?"

Lily checked her watch. She had fifteen minutes before she was supposed to meet Lori and Dawn. "Yeah, sure."

"Well, I have a sister named Jasmine, and we...we don't exactly get along. Now normally, I don't like to get in other people's business, but Ashley seems like a really sweet girl, so I thought she should know. And it would be better hearing it from her friend than a complete stranger. My sister was making out with Sirius last night."

"Sirius...As in Sirius Black?"

"Yes."

"But that's not possible. He's going out with Ashley."

"Well, he cheated on her," Haylen said, with a lot of pity in her voice.

"Did you..._see_ them?"

"I saw them going up to the astronomy tower together. I realized that it was Sirius, and knew he was seeing Ashley, so I followed them, and left as soon as they started ripping each other's clothes off."

"Well, er-maybe there was a-um...a bee in her shirt so he took it off, and then it went in _his_ shirt, so she ripped his off, and then it went into her pa-,"

"Lily," Haylen said with a sigh.

"Too far-fetched?"

Haylen nodded.

&&

"Hey guys. Come up here a second," James called down to his friends in the common room. They glared at him, but then decided to see what he was on about. Remus, Peter, Dawn, Lori, Nicole, and Lily followed him upstairs to the bathroom. "This isn't going to be disgusting, is it?" Dawn questioned.

"No, no. I found these potions flasks. Wonder what's in them?" Nicole shut the door behind her.

"Why'd you shut the door?" Lily questioned.

"I heard a strange noise out there. Shh!" Nicole said, pressing her ear against the door.

"How could you do this to me?" Ashley asked angrily and sadly. She crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at Sirius as if he were the most disgusting rodent on the face of the Earth. She was trying to fight the tears that were stinging her eyes, because she could not let Sirius see her being vulnerable.

"D-Do what?"

"You know what the bloody hell I'm talking about. You _cheated_ on me with that Ravenclaw _slut_."

"Oh no. Ashley, ya gotta listen to me-,"

"No. I gave you a chance after you've been a womanizer for all these years. I trusted you, and you just proved that I made a mistake in doing so. I can't believe I let my guard down for you! I can't believe that I actually gave in, just so you could hurt me. I don't know which of us is more stupid!"

"No, Ashley. Please, you have to lis-,"

"I don't care what you have to say, Sirius. Nothing you can say can fix this. We're done."

"No, You don't mean that. Besides, we were broken up!"

"Who are you to tell me what I mean and what I don't mean? And I never said we were over! All I said was that I needed to think! But now, I've though, and we're over."

"I love you."

Ashley gasped, and took a step back. Then, she just stared at him, gaping a bit. She then narrowed her eyes, and slapped him across the face as a few tears escaped. She quickly wiped them away, and ran for the door, but he grabbed her wrists, and held her in place.

"Please. Let me explain. Let's just talk."

"Fine. You want to explain yourself so badly. Go right ahead."

&&

"I don't believe this," Dawn mumbled.

"I know. Unbelievable, huh?" James asked.

"Yeah," Lily agreed.

"Is anyone else alarmed by the fact that there are seven people in this bathroom?" Remus questioned.

"Okay we gotta make some room. I think that all the girls should take a shower together to occupy us," James suggested, and the girls threw random objects from the bathroom at him. "So, I'll take that as a no?"

About five minutes later, Nicole and Dawn were sitting in the tub, Remus, Peter, and Lily were sitting on the floor, James was sitting on the bowl, and Lori was pacing the room.

"I really thought they'd make it," Nicole stated.

"So did I. There may still be hope though," Dawn replied.

"You think they have any clue we're in here?" James questioned.

"I think they have more important matters on their mind, James," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"It was just a question," he muttered.

&&

"Ashley, I was really upset because I thought you dumped me. I started drinking _a lot_, and got pretty drunk. I was walking down a corridor when Jasmine started hitting on me again. I was drunk and confused and stupid. I know that I hurt you, and I wish I could take it back, but I can't. I just hope you know how sorry I am."

"I believe that you're sorry," Ashley said after almost a minute of silence.

"Can you ever forgive me?"

"I honestly don't know, Sirius."

"Ashley, I honestly can't _live_ without you. I _need_ you. Without you life isn't worth living. I'm not completely happy unless I'm with you. I love you." And with those words, he stepped a little closer and kissed her gently, but she pulled away.

"Stop. Th-That doesn't change anything. It doesn't fix this. We're finished, Sirius."

**What did you think? reviewww reviewwww reviewww. the faster you review, the faster the next chapter comes up!**


	14. Aftermath

**Oh god, I'm so so sorry that this took so so long to get up. I've really been slacking off. Actually, I've been really busy lately, and I've tried to work on this as much as I could. This chapter's pretty short, but at least I got something up! Please Read and Review! Thanks a bunch guys!**

**Aftermath**

Ashley listened to the sound of the rain pouring. She sat in bed wearing a sweat shirt and flannel pants. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, and her make up was messed up because of all the tears. "Come on Ash. Get out of bed."

"No."

"You haven't eaten in two days. Come on," Lily said sadly.

"No," Ashley said more firmly.

Ashley hadn't stopped crying for days. She just couldn't believe that Sirius did this to her. She really thought that she had managed to change him. That she might actually be meant for him. But that was all just a crazy far-fetched fairytale that Ashley knew would never come true. Sirius was a bad guy. A bad guy who happened to be incredibly charming. In the back of Ashley's mind, she was still kind of hoping for a miracle.

"Do you...Do you want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about?" Ashley asked, finally looking up at her best friend, "I fell for a womanizer, and that's all there is to it."

"He got confused and made a mistake," Lily said, sitting at the end of the bed, "I'm not saying it was right, but he was drunk and confused, and he didn't know what he was doing. Ashley, I...I believed him when he said he did it because he cared about you so much. I know to you it doesn't make much sense, but it does."

Ashley wanted to believe that. She truly did. That way she could just forgive Sirius, try to move on, and forget this whole terrible, ugly thing ever happened. But she knew that life wasn't that simple, and that it would take a lot of time before she could even look Sirius in the eye again. Ashley sighed as she threw on a grey hoodie and black pants. She took out her messy bun, and put her hair in a high ponytail. She then made her way to the Great Hall for dinner.

Every Gryffindor in their year looked up as she entered. They all gave her sympathetic head nods as she walked down to sit with Lily. Ashley wanted to die because of all the stares and whispers that were because of her. No, it was because of _Sirius_.

Somebody nudged Sirius in the ribs, and pointed toward the entrance. Ashley walked in, her eyes were red and puffy. She looked pale and weak, as if she hadn't eaten in days. She walked straight past him to sit next to Lily, but he couldn't help look at her still. He had never felt this bad about anything in his entire life. He had never made such a big mistake, or had a bigger regret. What was the matter with him? Ashley picked at some of her food, and then hurried back to her room, and that was that.

&&

"Okay, let's stop talking about my problems," Sirius said, after giving Remus, James, and Peter an hour-long sob story. He collapsed onto his bed, after pacing the room for a full hour, and looked around to hear what the other guys had to say. "Remus? Peter? Anything?"

"What about me?" James questioned.

"Well, we already know _your_ sob story. You love Lily, she doesn't love you. What about you two?" Sirius asked, nodding toward Remus and Peter.

"I dunno," Remus said, looking at the ground.

"You like someone!" Sirius declared. Remus blushed and shook his head furiously.

&&

It turns out, Ashley missed a lot of stuff by not going to class for only two days. She hurried to the library where she saw Lori and Daphne. She plopped down next to them. "Hey Lorrow, Daph."

"Ashley! How are you?" Lori questioned cautiously.

"I'm actually starting to feel a little bit better. Don't know if this pain will ever _permanently_ go away, but this is a start," Ashley said with a shrug.

"I'm so sorry to hear about you two," Daphne said solemnly, "You were so cute. But hey, everything happens for a reason, right?"

"Huh...I guess so," Ashley replied quietly, "So what were you two talking about?"

"Oh, you know, quidditch, how I totally screwed up my friendship with Nicole, classes, you know, the usual," Lori replied with a sigh.

"You didn't ruin your friendship," Ashley stated, "She still cares about you. This is fixable."

"How?"

"Go talk to her," Ashley said, shoving her hand toward the door. Lori shrugged, as if to say "its worth a shot" and left Daphne and Ashley to finish up some homework and study. After about an hour, Daphne left, and it was just Ashley.

Ashley's eyes were getting incredibly tired, but she knew that she had to keep reading so that she would be prepared for the test that she would be having the following day. She was struggling so hard to keep her eyes open, and she could swear that she fell asleep once or twice. She checked the time. It was only 1 A.M. She had stayed up cramming for a test much later than that before. Why was she so tired? Oh, probably because she hadn't slept in three days. A failed test, courtesy of Sirius Black. Super.

"Ashley?"

Ashley looked at the entrance. Remus stood there looking pretty worried. Ashley quickly wondered why he wore such a look of worry, but found out soon after, "I've been looking everywhere for you. Then I ran into Daphne Gammond just now, and she said she last saw you here...six hours ago. What happened?"

"Arithmancy Test tomorrow...Have to study," Ashley said sleepily.

"You need to go to bed," Remus declared, closing the book.

"No!" Ashley said with a jolt, "I need to study. I need to do good on this test."

"Oh, I get it," Remus murmered.

"Get what?" Ashley asked, sitting upright.

"You're trying to distract yourself," Remus said, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world, "That way, Sirius will stay off your mind, and you don't have to suffer any pain. I know a lot of people who try to hide their misery by keeping themselves busy, just so they don't have to deal with it."

"Are you my friend or my psychiatrist?"

"I'm your friend, who happens to know you very well," Remus replied simply.

"That you do," Ashley said with a small smile, which was probably the first time she smiled all week.

"So, will you come back to the common room now?" Remus asked kindly.

"I guess," Ashley said with a defeated sigh, and she gathered her books and left with Remus.

Ashley and Remus climbed through the portait hole. It was empty except for, to Ashley's horror, Sirius. He was sitting on the couch, staring into the fire absentmindedly. He noticed the noise. "Ashley."

"I-I should go."

"Wait," Sirius said quickly. Remus shot him a good luck glance, and headed up the stairs. Ashley stopped walking, but didn't turn around. "Ashley, this is the biggest regret of my life. I love you...so much. I don't want you to forgive me. I _need_ you to. But I'll drop it if you can look me in the eye, and tell me you're happy without me and that you don't miss me."

Ashley didn't turn around. She stood there in silence for a moment or so. "Of course I miss you. Of _course_ I'm not happy without you. But it's the way it's got to be. You hurt me so _so_ bad, Sirius. I can't just forgive and forget, all right?"

"Please, I care about you more than anything. I love you, for merlin's sake."

Ashley quickly turned to face him, her dark, almost black eyes were shining, "That's not _fair_. You can't just _say _that to me after what you did. Are you trying to make me feel worse than I already do?"

"Of course not. I want you to be happy. I want you to be with me."

"It doesn't work like that," Ashley murmured.

"Why can't it?"

"Because I can't trust you." And with that, she ran up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door.

&&

Remus, James, Lily, and Dawn sat together talking the next day. Everything was so awkward lately. Sirius and Ashley were sort of making them pick sides, and there was no way they could do that. "Do you think it's really over for good with them?" James found himself questioning.

"I dunno," Lily said quietly, "I really hope not."

"Sirius has barely eaten all week. I've never seen him only have _one_ helping at dinner," Remus said in astonishment.

"Ashley hasn't eaten in two days, and hasn't slept in three," Dawn said, shaking her head.

"How did things get so messed up?" James questioned to nobody in paticular, not really expecting an answer.

A scream was heard from upstairs, so the four of them hurried up to the girl's dormitory to see what the commotion was about. They opened the door, to see Ashley pulling out her wand to stop a fire from burning up her trunk. She quickly repaired it, and then looked up to see four of her friends. "Oh, hi guys."

"What the bloody hell is going on in here?" James asked, staring from the place where the fire had been, to Ashley.

"Well," Ashley said, taking a seat on the bed, "I'm completely cutting Sirius out of my life. You know, start the healing process."

"By setting your trunk on fire?" Dawn questioned skeptically.

"No, no, I was burning this letter he wrote me back in fifth year, but then I got burned, so I threw the letter, and it landed on my trunk," Ashley said simply, with a shrug.

"Ashley, as healthy as this may seem to you, it's anything but healthy. Getting rid of everything Sirius ever gave you is _not_ the way to get over him. And quite frankly, not exactly safe," Lily told her friend.

"I thought I knew him, but it turns out I didn't. So, why not make it literal? I can just get rid of every trace of him, so it's like he never existed," Ashley told them quietly, in a tone that said 'this-is-my-way-of-dealing-and-if-you-can't-just-leave-me-be-get-the-hell-away.'

"If this is what you need to do to make yourself feel better, go right ahead. But just know, it's not going to make you feel better. It may for a while, but it won't last, and pretty soon you're just going to have to deal with it," Lily told her. And then, she led them all out of the room.

Ashley collapsed on her bed. Lily was right, and she knew it. Why did Lily _always_ have to be right?

&&

Ashley and Sirius had been avoiding each other for the past week and a half. Ashley had moved past the sad stage, and up to the bitter angry stage. Sirius, on the other hand, was more pathetic and upset than ever. The rest of their friends didn't know who was worse being around. Ashley, who made nasty comments about every little thing Sirius says or does, or Sirius, who had nothing but memories and worship stories to tell about Ashley. As bad as the group felt for their friends, they felt just as bad for themselves, for having to listen to them.

"And you know, what's _up_ with his smile? It's all lopsided and freakish looking. It's almost scary," Ashley told Lily, Nicole, and Dawn in their dormitory, "He's so self centered, it's repulsive. I don't know how anybody puts up with him. _Honestly_. He's way too much to bare. I feel sorry for whatever ends up marrying him."

"...And she's got the most gorgeous hair. It's so pretty and long, and her eyes are so dark and mysterious. She's so funny and sweet, but not overly sweet. She's the perfect amount of sweet. She's just perfect period, actually," Sirius said dreamily to James, Remus, and Peter in their dormitory, "I just love everything about the girl."

When they had both said that they needed some "alone time" Nicole, Lily, and Dawn met up with James, Remus, and Peter in the common room. "I...can't...TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Lily shouted, throwing her hands up into the air.

"I know, if I here one more word about how beautiful Ashley is, I'm going to kill myself," James said, taking a seat by the fire.

"And if _I_ here one more word about Sirius being a scumbag prat, I'll kill _my_ self!" Dawn said angrily, taking a seat on the arm of the couch.

"We've got to do something about this," Nicole declared.

**I know, not my best chapter, but like I said, I've been REALLY busy lately. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but I'm going to need some reviews to keep me motivated!**


	15. Cooties

**Okay, the next chapter is here! Please Read and Review! I hope you like it!**

**Cooties**

Ashley sat in the common room playing Exploding Snap with two of her sisters, Aly and Alonna. Ashley usually didn't get along with Aly, but she was really getting more mature, and Ashley was glad that she was finally able to talk to her without fighting. "Do you honestly believe you two will never get back together?" Aly questioned.

"Al, the bloke _cheated_ on me. And it wasn't even just a kiss. They had sex for crying out loud!"

Aly shrugged, wishing she hadn't said anything. She made an odd noise, and Ashley followed her gaze. "Shit," Ashley muttered. Sirius entered the common room, dragging his feet slightly, looking straight at the ground. None of his friends were with him. He was all alone. "Look at the time," Alonna said suddenly, "Aly...Would you be a peach and help me look for my Transfiguration book? I left it upstairs..."

The girls scurried up the stairs, leaving Ashley and Sirius to stand there, staring at one another. It was about a minute before Sirius said, "A-Ashley."

"Hello," Ashley said softly.

"You're speaking to me?" Sirius said shockedly.

"I guess so," Ashley replied stiffly.

"W-Why?" Sirius questioned in amazement. Then, hastily added, "Not that I'm complaining, I mean."

"Because I'm just done, okay? I'm over this, I'm over you, and I'm over us," Ashley said bluntly. She shrugged, and walked upstairs to her dormitory, closing the door silently behind her. She crawled into bed, and hugged her pillow to her chest, rocking herself to sleep. There were four more months of Hogwarts. Four more months, and then she'd never have to deal with Sirius again.

&&

Sirius sighed. Was she being serious, or just lying? He honestly couldn't tell. He had no idea what he could do to win her back. He was hardly the romantic type. Sure, he could be charming. But that was only when he wanted to get some action. It was completely different when it came to actual feelings and emotions. Sirius looked up and down the corridor. It was completely empty. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an alcohol flask. He took a long, long sip, and then wiped his mouth. He drank more, and more until everything went black.

&&

February arrived, and school work was getting really hard. Ashley, Lily, Nicole, and Dawn sat cramming for a test. "I don't get why they're giving us so many exams with N.E.W.T's so close," said Dawn bitterly.

"To prepare us," Lily said impatiently, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't get why you're so bent out of shape," Nicole told Lily, "You got straight O's on your O.W.L's."

"You did good," Lily said absently.

"Lily! My highest grade was an Acceptable!" Nicole retorted.

"That's great, Nic. Can I study now?"

Ashley yawned. "I'm going to bed."

She stood up, said good night to her friends, and headed toward the Gryffindor common room. On her way there, she saw a familiar person laying down in the middle of the corridor. "Sirius!" Ashley shouted as she bent down to check a pulse. "Sirius! Can you hear me?" Ashley pulled him up, and tried to walk him to the hospital wing. She couldn't hold him up right, so she conjured a stretcher and laid him on it. She hadn't a clue what happened to him. Being so close to him reminded her of everything she loved about him. His sense of humor, the way he smelled, that lopsided grin, his hair, his arms... Ashley let a single tear escape from her eye, and she levitated the stretcher to the hospital wing.

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and ran from the hospital wing.

&&

"Mr. Black," Madam Mullins said sternly, as the bright sunlight entered Sirius' eyes. He rubbed at them, and then tried to focus his eyes on Madam Mullins.

"This isn't my dormitory," Sirius said flatly.

"Nothing gets by you, Mr. Black," Madam Mullins said, rolling her eyes. She shook her head, and sighed. "Drinking, were you?"

"Apparently so," Sirius said with a shrug, "What? I turned 17 earlier this month," Sirius said defensively, in case she didn't think he was of age.

"On school grounds though! Honestly!"

"Nobody ever told me it was against the rules to drink in school," Sirius told her.

"You had your friends worried sick! That blonde girl was a wreck when she found you passed out in the hallw-,"

"Blonde girl? You-You mean _Ashley_ found me? _Ashley_ brought me here?"

"Uh-Miss Hartford, yes. She told your friends that she found you unconcious in the hallway, and they all came looking for you this morning. I told them that you hadn't had a heart attack or been hexed - just that you were an idiotic adolescent."

"Ashley came this morning?" Sirius said brightly.

"No, she wasn't with them. Now, shoo. Out of here."

"Doesn't it get lonely around here? Don't you want me to stay with you?" Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Mr. Black!"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

Sirius practically skipped down the corridor, and into the Gryffindor common room. Since it was a Saturday, pretty much nobody was there. Except Ashley who was sitting by the fire, her head in her hands. "Penny for your thoughts?"

He had down next to her. And she hit him. _Hard._

"What was that for!?" Sirius shouted.

"You're an _idiot_!" Ashley told him angrily. "I thought you were _dead_!"

"I can't die," Sirius told her with a calm shrug.

"You're not immortal. Why can't you die?"

"Because I'd never leave you. I can't leave you. And I'm going to do whatever it takes to get you back. I'll do it. You'll see."

"Sirius, I-,"

"Shh. Don't say anything." And he walked away.

&&

Ashley sat on the window seat, sketching. Her eyes were red and puffy and she seemed to not notice anything going on around her. Lily walked over to her, and patted her on the back. "Ash..."

"_What_?" Ashley said sharply.

"We're all really worried about you," Lily said softly.

"Worried? Why should you be worried? Just because I fell for Casanova doesn't mean-,"

"Ashley!"

"Ugh, you're right, Lily. I'm sorry. That's quite insulting to Casanova, huh? What I meant to say was-,"

"Ashley! Please. I hate seeing you like this. _We_ hate seeing you like this."

"Well, you may find this shocking, but this hasn't exactly been a picnic for me either."

She sighed and stalked up the stairs.

&&

Ashley sat in bed thinking over her whole past with Sirius. How is it that he was the best and worst thing to ever happen to her? How was that possible, anyway? Ashley pulled up the covers a little more as a cool breeze entered the room. She shivered and laid back a bit, putting her head under her pillow. She wanted to take him back and forget this so badly. But he had hurt her so much that she found it impossible to _ever_ truly forgive him. At this point, she just needed a way to get over Sirius.

There was no way to get over him though. She had never felt this way about a guy in her life. Her first chance at love was completely wrecked almost as quickly as it had come. It just didn't seem fair at all. What had she done to deserve this, anyway? Was this gods way of telling her she was a bad person?

Ashley decided she wanted to get something to eat, so she snuck down to the kitchens for a quick snack. On her way there, she ran into Gavin Carmichael, who was a Ravenclaw in her year. "Hey, Ashley."

"Oh, Hi Gavin," Ashley said politely.

"I heard what happened. I'm really sorry," Gavin said sincerely.

"Th-Thanks," Ashley said quietly.

"You and Sirius didn't make much sense to me," Gavin went on with a shrug, "Guess it's because he's such a womanizer, and you're just so kind. I can't believe he got to you."

"I can't believe I let him get to me," Ashley said in an even softer tone.

"You deserve better," Gavin stated.

"Do I?" Ashley whispered.

"Of course. Do you ... Do you maybe want to go out sometime?"

"Wow, Gavin. Uh...I don't know if, if I'm ready for that yet," Ashley said apologetically.

"Oh, well um ... That's cool," Gavin said with a tiny shrug.

"I-I'm really sorry. Maybe some other time," Ashley told him.

"Uh-Sure. I'll seeya later, Ash."

&&

The next morning Ashley headed to the Great Hall, and went straight to the Ravenclaw table. She tapped him on the back, and he turned. "Oh, Ashley. Hi."

"Hi, Gavin. Uh, I was just wondering if you still wanted to go out sometime."

"Really? Are you - Are you ready for that?" Gavin asked her.

"Yeah. I think I am," Ashley responded, half-sure of herself.

"Well, there's a Hogsmeade trip on Saturday."

"Great! I'll meet you then!" And she headed back to her table.

Ashley sat down absently nibbling at a peice of toast. She wondered if she only said yes to get over Sirius. Sure, Gavin was really good-looking. He had light brown hair and grey-green eyes. He was really tall, and on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, which meant he had a damn good body. He was really caring and kind. He had top grades in class. He was all around perfect.

But if he was so perfect, then why didn't this feel totally right?

&&

Sirius sighed. He looked at the other end of the table where Ashley had just sat down. She was sitting alone, looking lost in thought. He had just seen her with Gavin Carmichael. Gavin, a good guy. A faithful guy. Sirius could literally feel his heart breaking. She was moving on. She was doing just fine without him. She was probably thinking about him right now. She didn't love him, did she? Of course not. If she really loved him, she might have been able to see past his mistake. She just didn't care enough to try.

She would probably marry Gavin. They'd have a lot of kids together, and live in a big house with a dog and a picket fence. But if that's what made her happy, Sirius should just respect her wishes. But she was happy when she was with him too. But who was she happi_er_ with? He wanted her to do whatever made her happy. But he also wanted her to be with him. When did life get so bloody confusing anyway? Why couldn't girls still have cooties?

Lily sat down across from Sirius. "Are you okay?"

"Why can't you damn people have cooties?" Sirius said, throwing up his hands and leaving the Great Hall.

Lily sat staring after him wondering what that was about. Cooties? Lily shrugged it off, and went down to the end of the table to sit with Ashley. "Hey. Look, I'm sorry if I upset you. I didn't mean-,"

"Oh please, Lily. You were worried about me, and I completely bit your head off. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, you've been through a lot, Ash."

"I know, but that's no excuse to take it out on you."

"So, what are you up to?" Lily asked, trying to change the subject.

"Uhh, nothing. I have a date with Gavin Carmichael on Saturday."

"You have a _date_?" Lily shrieked.

"Yeah," Ashley said simply with a shrug.

"But...But, Sirius."

"Lily, It's over between me and Sirius, remember? I'm moving on."

**What did you think of this chapter? I tried to get it done as soon as possible, so let me know if it's good, or if it sucks. Reviewwww, and I'll update faster!**


	16. Change of Pace

**Well, I have to say, I'm rather proud of myself for updating so soon. It's been three days, and I already have a new chapter! Goooo me! Thanks for reviewing chapter 15, eleven cat eyes and nicoley117. Hope you all enjoy this chapter! **

**Change of Pace**

"Charms is hard," Sirius stated with a frown.

"This is Transfiguration," Remus told him.

"Transfiguration is hard," Sirius shrugged.

"Maybe it's hard because that's my Ancient Runes book," Remus said, putting the book back in his bag, and putting Sirius' Transfiguration book in front of him, "Maybe now it will be less hard."

Sirius sighed and began to scribble down some notes. He stopped writing when he realized that McGonagall had stopped speaking. Actually, it was dead silent in the room. Sirius slowly lifed his head. Everybody in the room was gazing at him with their mouths slightly open. Sirius nudged James. "Why is everyone looking at me like that?" He then turned to James, whose mouth was also open. "Why are _you_ looking at me like that?"

"Well, don't be offended Padfoot, but nobody here has seen you take notes since third year," James responded quietly.

Class ended soon after, and Sirius hurried off to the library. A few minutes later Nicole walked in. She looked at Sirius, walked back out, and looked over the front doors, where it clearly said, "LIBRARY". She walked back inside with a perplexed look on her face, and sat down next to him. "Sirius...Do you know where you are?"

"Please tell me this is the library. I got lost for about 45 minutes trying to find this bloody place," Sirius responded.

"You mean you're not lost now?" Nicole questioned.

"I needed to get some studying done," Sirius muttered with a small shrug.

Nicole clapped her left hand onto Sirius' forehead. "No, it's not a fever..."

"Maybe I'm just trying to be more responsible," Sirius said irritably.

"I just don't know what could be causing this behavior," Nicole said to herself, not listening to Sirius.

Sirius grunted in frustration and went back to his work. He could feel Nicole's gaze still on him. It was getting kind of uncomfortable, so he said, "Nicole-I know you find my devestatingly attractive, but-,"

"Don't flatter yourself," she cut in.

"You mean...You _don't_ find me attractive?" Sirius questioned.

"Is that really the point?" Nicole questioned. When Sirius still looked bewildered, she sighed. "Yes, I find you attractive. Okay?"

"Say it like you mean it," Sirius continued.

"Sirius!"

"Or else, I'll fall into an even deeper depression!" Sirius went on.

"Fine!" Nicole shouted, throwing up her hands, "Sirius Black, you're absolutely the most attractive man I have ever laid eyes on!"

"That's better," Sirius said with a satisfied smirk.

"You, Sirius Black, are impossibe." He went back to his work, and she pulled out some books of her own to study. After several minutes of utter silence, Nicole snapped her fingers, "I got it!"

"Got what?" Sirius questioned, looking up at her with a puzzled expression.

"Why you're dong this," Nicole replied quickly, "Is this...Are you trying to forget about her by covering yourself in all of this? Or trying to impress her with how mature you're being!"

"What in Merlin's name-,"

"Just go with me on this," Nicole told him, "Remember in the beginning of the year when you wanted to win Ashley over, so you were acting really mature to show her that you've changed? Well, Are you-Are you trying to do that again?"

"Is it that hard for you to believe I just want to do well? To be able to get an actual job?"

"I-I'm sorry, Sirius. You're totally right. I'm sorry," Nicole repeated.

"Don't be, because well, you're probably right," Sirius sighed.

"I wish there was something I could do," Nicole said sympathetically.

"Yeah, well...I'm gonna head to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Seeya later," Sirius said, throwing his books into his bag, and walking out of the library.

Nicole called out a good-bye to him, but he was already long gone. He was on his way to class when he remembered he had left his Defense Against the Dark Arts book in his dormitory. He ran back to the Gryffindor common room, and quickly up to his dormitory. He grabbed the book, stuffed it in his bag, and went back down to the common room. He heard a couple of familiar voices, so he hid himself so he could listen in.

"You _can't_ go out with Gavin!"

"And why not?"

"Because you love Sirius!"

"No. I _did_ love Sirius. But I wasn't good enough for him. I'm good enough for Gavin, apparently. He's a nice guy. He'd never be unfaithful."

"Who are you trying to kid? Yourself? You still love Sirius! Just admit it, okay? I can read you like a book, Ashley!"

"Fine! Okay, I love Sirius. Are you happy? But it's not like we can ever be together again, so maybe I'm on my way to something _real_ with Gavin. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to Defense Against the Dark Arts."

He heard the sound of them climbing through the portrait hole, and then silence. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Suddenly going to class didn't seem so important. Ashley loved him! She had just said it! Did that mean he still had a shot? No, she had clearly said that they could never be together again. But, he could always find a way to change her mind. He had to. And he had a little less than four months to do so, because after Graduation, who knew if he'd ever be seeing her again?

The thought of never seeing Ashley again was like an icy knife through his stomach. He hated the thought of it. He had to make things right again. He needed to be with her. Sirius checked the time. He was on the verge of being early for a class for once, and now he was already five minutes late. He slung his bag over his shoulder, and hurried to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The professor gave him an angry glare when he walked into the classroom. "Take a seat, Mr. Black." He nodded, and took a seat beside James. "Nice of you to join us," James muttered as he scribbled down some notes.

"It was so worth being late," Sirius said with a grin, "I think," he mumbled as an afterthought.

"Ugh, Sirius. You didn't...Did you?" James said, looking at him carefully.

"Oh god, James. You really think I'm in the state to be sleeping with anyone?" Sirius questioned.

"You did it while you guys were together. What's the big deal when you're apart?" James countered.

"Touché."

This was the last class of the day. When it ended, everybody hurried back to the common room or the library to get homework and studying over with. There was little time for fun these days for the fifth and seventh years, who were constantly preparing for N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s. After everyone was done doing homework and studying, dinner arrived. James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter hurried off to the Great Hall. Sirius had just finished telling his friends about what he had overheard.

"It sounds like a case of 'I love him but I don't want to'," Peter told Sirius.

"Yeah, I agree," Remus said, "But if she does still love you, you might still have a shot."

&&

After dinner, Remus went back to the common room. It was pretty much empty in there except for Dawn and Lori. He took a seat next to them. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Remus," the girls chorused. Dawn looked up at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I-It's nothing," Remus said quietly.

"Its something," Dawn argued, "Talk."

"I don't think I should," Remus said quietly, nodding his head toward Lori.

"Does it have to do with Nicole?" Lori asked, looking up. "Remus, it's cool."

"Really?"

"Sure," Lori shrugged, "Now, what's the matter?"

"I just...I really screwed up, huh?"

"Everyone makes mistakes. At least you don't make Sirius-type mistakes," Dawn shrugged.

"But still," Remus went on, "I really cared about her, and I ruined it. Now she won't talk to me again."

"Only one way to find out," Dawn shrugged, nodding toward the portrait hole, where Nicole stepped through.

Remus sighed, and stood up. He walked over to her, and gave a half smile. "H-Hi."

"Hello," Nicole said stiffly.

"Nicole, listen, I know that I messed up. I tried to convince myself I didn't have any feelings for you, but it didn't work. It made me care about you even more. I can't stop thinking about you no matter what I do. It's impossible, I-,"

But then, he felt Nicole's lips on his.

&&

James and Lily had to spend the night patrolling the corridors. They walked around the building in a comfortable silence. It was a pretty slow night. They hadn't caught anybody out of bed after hours oranything. No pranks being played. Nothing. "So, pretty crazy about Sirius and Ashley, huh?" James said, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, it is. I wish they could just work things out," Lily replied.

"So do I. He hasn't stopped talking about her since they broke up. Everything seems to remind him of her."

"She's trying not to be vulnerable. She's always got her guard up, and the one time she lowered it, she got burned. It sucks."

"Well, it's good that she finally let her guard down though," James said.

"I guess, but look where it landed her," Lily said, getting a feeling they weren't talking about Sirius and Ashley anymore.

"But at least she gave it a shot," James countered.

"I dunno," Lily muttered, thinking about his words.

The patrolling ended and Lily hurried off to her room, because she didn't exactly want to keep talking to James about this. She went to bed early, thinking about what he said.

&&

By breakfast, everybody knew that Nicole and Remus were a couple. There was a permanent grin plastered on both of their faces. At least thigns were going well for them. As opposed to the other two couples in trouble. James, who was fustrated. Lily, who was confused. Ashley, who was in denial, and Sirius who was praying for a miracle.

"Ugh, Valentines Day is coming up. How I loathe Valentines Day," Dawn said bitterly.

"What has Valentines Day ever done to you?" Nicole asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's just a stupid wannabe holiday invented for Hallmark to make money!" Dawn replied.

"Bummed cause you don't have a boyfriend?" Lily asked sympathetically.

"Totally," Dawn huffed, sighing.

"Thought so," Lily said with a smile.

It was a week before Valentines Day, and everybody in Hogwarts was hooking up like crazy so they didn't have to be alone for the holiday. People are usually really weird about being alone on Valentines Day, and obviously Dawn was one of them. "I say all the single girls get together on Valentines Day, and just hang out."

"Sounds like a plan," Ashley said with a shrug.

"I said single girls, Ash," Dawn told her.

"Oh, right! Gavin! Wow, I completely forgot," Ashley mumbled.

"So, I guess me, Lily, and Lori will be hanging out. Unless you and Gavin, and Remus and Nicole break up between now and then," said Dawn.

"Why do I automatically have to spend Valentine's Day with him? We haven't even had a first date yet!" Ashley said indignantly.

"Hey, you're completely welcome to join us," Dawn said hastily, "I just expect he'll want to be with you then."

"You're probably right," Ashley sighed, "What did I get myself into?"

"You could always cancel your date. Like you said, you haven't even gone on a date yet," Nicole shrugged.

"Yeah but, I can't exactly make myself get over Sirius by sitting in my bed thinking about him, can I? I have to get out there," Ashley told her with a half smile.

"I suppose so. Unless Sirius truly is the one for you, and you're just wasting you're time," Lily said bitterly. Ashley shot her an angry glare, and got up to go to class.

**So, hate it? Love it? Let me know. Reviewss, please!! Haha. I'll try to update as soon as I can, but I know that reviews will deffinitely motivate me to update faster!**


	17. Things You Think About In Bed

**Wow, you guys have no idea how sorry I am that I haven't updated in so long. But between the holidays, a whole bunch of personal problems, and midterms, it's just been too crazy for me. I haven't had much time. But I hope you guys aren't too mad at me! Please read and review!**

**Things You Think About In Bed**

**Ashley's P.O.V:**

How did my life get so messed up? Only a couple of weeks ago I was truly happy. Part of me wanted to go on this date with Gavin to see if there was maybe a spark or something there. But the other part, a larger part, wanted to just make up with Sirius and be with him. But I just couldn't deal with going through that kind of pain again. Sure, he seemed sorry, but that doesn't take away the pain at all. Everybody kept telling me "Everything will be okay". But how do _they_ know? Are they all psychic? I thought of a quote that my older sister would always tell me when things got rough. "In the end, everything will be okay. If it's not okay, it's not the end". It was actually kind of comforting, but was it true? There were a lot of sayings out there that are pretty comforting and make me feel better, but that doesn't make them _true_.

And you know what gets to me the most? The fact that I _let_ this happen. I pretty much welcomed this situation with open arms. I guess that's what you get when you're just plain naive. Another saying out there is, "Everybody deserves a second chance". Is that complete bull too, or is that actually wise? I had a good four months to make a decision about Sirius. But after that, who knows if him and I will ever cross paths again? Then again, if it's meant to be, we'll meet again someday.

These are all the things I think about when I try to go to bed at night. All of these thoughts about Sirius come to my head. Actually, I don't think Sirius ever permanently leaves my head. He's always in my mind. It's quite irritating, actually, seeing his big head 24/7. I slowly felt myself drifing off to sleep.

"Ash? Ashley!" I heard Lily trying to wake me up the next morning. I groaned, and rubbed at my eyes. I kicked the comforter to the end of the bed and gingerly got out of bed. Nicole had just gotten out of the shower, and I made a run for the bathroom. I took a quick warm shower, and felt much more awake. I quickly brushed my teeth, put some curls in my hair, and put on some eyeliner, which is pretty much the only make-up I wear. I threw on my robes, and headed down to the Great Hall. Nicole and Lily were already eating breakfast. Dawn and Lori wake up pretty late. Nicole and Lily are always early. I'm somewhere in between both of them.

"Mornin' Sunshine," Lily said with a grin. She does this often, because I'm pretty much a troll in the mornings. I'm much more of a night person. I scowled at her and plopped down next to Nicole. I buttered myself a peice of toast, and poured some juice. The Marauders came down about five minutes later. I've always found it odd how they travel in a pack. I'm quite used to it by now, but those boys are honestly attatched at the hip. I avoided Sirius' eyes, and engaged in a conversation with Lori once she and Dawn made it downstairs.

The first class of the day was Potions. Joy. Slughorn is pretty overbearing at times. He practically worships the ground Lily and I walk on, and while she likes the teachers pet treatment, I find it sort of annoying. I'm good in potions and all, I just hate the class. Just before I took my seat, James informed me about a Quidditch practice to be held on Saturday. Then, I sat down beside Remus as usual, and took out my books.

"Hey, Ash," Remus said, stifling a yawn with his hand. I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Rough night?" I teased. Remus scowled, and then grinned. I couldn't remember seeing my best friend this happy in quite a while. I smiled at him, glad that he had found happiness. Remus was the first best friend I ever had. He really understood me. Scarily enough, I think Remus knows me better than I know myself, which is a pretty frightening thing. Comforting to have someone who knows me inside out, yet scary at the same time. "Hey Remus?" I whispered towards the end of the class.

"What?" he whispered back, scribbling notes crazily.

"You're my best friend. I'm lucky to have you," I said sincerely.

Remus stopped writing notes to look down at me, and smiled, "You're my best friend too. And I'm much luckier to have you."

"Haha, yeah right."

Class ended, and I walked with James and Remus to Transfiguration. When everybody was settled, I sneaked a quick glance at Sirius. He was sitting alone, with his head down, looking miserable. It's funny how he cheated on me, yet I feel bad for _him_. I tried to concentrate on taking notes for the rest of the period, but it was quite hard to do so when all I wanted was to go over there and make up with Sirius.

When class was over, I walked out of the classroom with Remus, James, and Lily at my heels. But then I heard someone say my name, and we all spun around. "Ugh, What do you want, Brittany?" Britanny is a bitchy Ravenclaw girl, whom I don't care for in the least.

"What's wrong, Ashley? Were you not enough to keep Sirius satisfied?" Brittany said bitterly.

"What's wrong, Brit? Are you not enough to keep any guy satisfied?" I spat back.

"You'd better watch your back," Brittany said, narrowing her eyes at me.

I just smiled sweetly and said, "How about I watch my back, when you stop spending so much time on yours?" and with that I walked away. I heard lots of "ooh"s and laughter in the background, and the feet of my friends behind me. Before we went inside Defense Against the Dark Arts, James gave me a huge smile and said, "That was like, the comeback of the century, Ash."

"It was pretty good, wasn't it?" I shrugged with a small smile.

"What's this? A smile? Oh, how I've missed that smile!" Lily joked. I scowled at her and took my seat. The rest of the day wore on and soon we were going down to dinner. "I'll meet you guys down there," I said, because I had to quickly return a book to the library. We went seperate ways, and on the way there, I saw Sirius. I wanted to hug him, hit him, kiss him, and yell at him, all at once.

"Ashley," he said faintly.

"H-Hi," I said faintly, not looking him in the eye.

"Can...Can we talk for a minute?" he asked desperately. I looked up, and he looked at me directly in the eyes. There was so much pain in those stormy grey eyes, that I actually felt bad for _him_. Go figure, huh?

"Is there anything left to say?" I said quietly.

"Please?" he pleaded.

I sighed, "Okay." His face lit up and he leaded us down the hall for a walk. We finally stopped at an empty classroom and took a seat in the back. "Okay, please hear me out. Don't say anything." He looked at me, and I just nodded. "You were, and still are, the best thing that's ever happened to me. You really did change me, even though you still think I'm a rotten two-timer. But there's nothing in the world that could stop me from loving you, because I do. And that's the honest truth. You may not believe it, but I assure you, it's 100 true. I hate myself for hurting you. I'm disgusted with myself. Not just for losing you, for causing you pain. I don't blame you for not giving me a second chance. But if you did, I swear, I would never do anything to screw it up. I swear. I-I guess that's all I needed to say," Sirius said awkwardly getting up, and making his way out of the classroom.

I couldn't believe what he had just said. I really believed him, I did. I just didn't want to risk getting hurt again. Because if that were to ever happen again, I don't think I could survive that kind of pain twice. Was I really willing to let my guard down for a second time after what already happened? Sirius was getting ready ot reach for the doorknob to exit the classroom when I heard myself say, "I love you, too."

At first, he didn't turn around. He didn't move. He didn't speak. Was he trying to process what he just heard? Did he even hear me? But then he turned around, and cringed. Yes, cringed. "What's the matter?" I asked him.

"I wish you hadn't said that. It's only going to make getting over you harder than it already is."

I didn't know what to say to that. I mean, what do you say to that? I did what my first instinct was. I walked over to him, pulled him closer to me, and kissed him. And not just a little peck. I mean, I _really_ kissed him. It was probably one of the most passionate kisses I've ever had. When I pulled away, he looked down at me and asked, "Wow...So, what does this mean?"

"I'm not really sure."

**So what did you think of my lame attempt of something to make you guys happy? Will Ashley be with Sirius, or was the kiss just an impulse? Hmm guess you'll just have to review to find out, huh?**


	18. 637 Reasons Why I Love You

**blehh sorry for the wait. Been extremely busy. aw well, i know its short, but i've suffered from a bit of writer's block. but i have some good ideas for the next chapter!**

**637 Reasons Why I Love You**

Nicole looked at her watch. It was almost eleven, and she hadn't seen Ashley since dinner. She was starting to get sort of worried when she heard somebody climbing through the portrait hole. "Ashley! Thank goodness!"

"Hi," Ashley said weakly.

Nicole looked her over questioningly and asked, "What happened?" Ashley let out a groan and collapsed on the common room couch. And so Ashley told her everything that had happened. "...And I told him I wasn't really sure, and well, that was it."

"Wow, you and Sirius made out. That's great!"

"How on Earth is that great?" Ashley asked with a sigh.

"Because now you're a step closer to reconciliation," Nicole squealed.

"Is that really a good thing? Whose to say he won't just cheat on me again? Nicole, I can't handle that twice," Ashley told her. She fell backward onto the couch and layed there.

"Everyone makes mistakes. Give him one more chance."

"Okay, I'll think about it," Ashley stated sitting back up.

&&

"...And then she said she wasn't really sure," Sirius said with a sigh, "It was just an impulse, wasn't it? She doesn't want to be with me." He sighed once again and looked up at his friends.

"Well, you don't know that for sure. She said she wasn't sure, so just give her some time," Remus said positively.

"She loves you though. You know that now," James put in.

"She had to have felt something. That was the best kiss I've ever had. She must have felt it too," Sirius shrugged.

"You just have to find her and talk to her," Remus said, opening a book. As if on cue, a knock came from the door. Sirius jumped up quickly. The color drained from his face, and he quicky looked in the mirror trying to fix his hair. He then confidently walked toward the door and opened it. "Ugh, it's just you," Sirius said, messing up his hair again and plopping back down.

"Now that's the kind of greeting a girl loves to hear," Nicole said as she rolled her eyes and sat down beside Remus.

"I thought you were Ashley," Sirius explained.

"Figured. She's pacing around our dormitory trying to find a way to talk to you. It was driving me nuts, so I came here," Nicole replied.

"Oh," Sirius said with a frown, "Well, I'm going for a walk."

&&

Ashley hurried over to the Ravenclaw common room. Just ouside of there, she saw Jake, a guy in Ravenclaw who she was okay friends with. He was about to go into the common room. "Jake!" She called loudly, jogging down the corridor.

"Hey, Ashley. How's it going?"

"Could be worse," Ashley shrugged, "Do you happen to know where Gavin is?"

"Yeah, he was just upstairs studying. Want me to get him for you?" Jake asked.

"That'd be great," Ashley replied, "Thanks, Jake."

Ashley waited just outside, and in a few minutes Gavin came down. "Hi, Gavin."

"Hey there," he replied with a smile.

"Listen, I'm sorry, but I don't think I can make it on Saturday."

"Oh. You want to rain check, then?"

Ashley winced a little, "No. I'm sorry."

Gavin half-smiled, "It's cool. See you around."

"Yeah, see ya," Ashley smiled a bit, turned on her heel, and saw Sirius at the other end of the corridor. He was looking right at her and she ran to catch up with him. "Hey," Ashley said when she finally reached him.

"Hi," Sirius said a little stiffly, looking back at the Ravenclaw portrait hole.

"Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure."

The two of them walked for about five minutes in utter silence before sneaking into an empty classroom. "Okay, Sirius. There's...There's something I want you to know. I've cancelled my date with Gavin."

"You did?"

"Yes. Everyone makes mistakes, right? You were drunk and confused. But yeah, it hurt, okay? I...I guess I just need to know that you're in this for the long hall." She looked up at him so he could speak.

"You need to know how much I love you? Okay, follow me," Sirius said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway. They went to the Boys dormitory and Sirius rummaged under the bed for something. He pulled out a sack and they ran in silence outside into the cool air.

"Sirius, what is this about?" Ashley asked confusedly with a small shiver.

"Here," Sirius said, taking off his cloak and putting it around her, "This will all show you just how much I love you." He reached into the sack and pulled out a bag. "There are fifty-seven letters in here that I wrote you." He placed them on the side and reached into the bag once again. "This," he said, pulling out about seven or eight peices of parchment that were bound together, "is the list I wrote of all the reasons that I love you." He put that on top of the bag, and reached into the sack once again, "This is a list of dates. The date we met, the date we first kissed, and so on." Hep ut that with the other stuff and looked back in the bag, "Here's a photo album with pictures of us over the years. Oh, and here's-," but he didn't need to go any further, because Ashley had already stepped toward him and kissed him. He slid his fingers through her hair, and whispered quietly in her ear, "I'm so sorry for everything. I swear, it will never happen again. You're everything I could ever want, and all that I'll ever need." She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. Then, she pulled away from him a little bit, and smiled up at him. "Can I take a look at that stuff?" she asked, pointing her thumb over her shoulder to the sack.

"Sure," Sirius said. He put everything back into the sack, and together they walked back to the castle and into the Gryffindor common room. The two of them sat on the couch and Sirius took some stuff out of the sack.

Ashley started with the list of reasons he loved her. "Number One, the way she chews her hair when she's nervous." Ashley laughed and continued, "Number Two, how sarcastic she is." She took a quick look at the pages. "Sirius, how many are there?"

"Sixhundred and thirty-seven. But those are just the ones I wrote down," Sirius replied with a wink.

"I love you so much," Ashley said, leaning in and giving him a quick kiss. "So, how about these letters?" Ashley said with a grin, taking them out of their bag.

They stayed up until 1 A.M. going through everything, talking, laughing, and reminiscing. Life was great. For now, anyway.

&&

At 3 o'clock in the morning, Ashley snuck downstairs to the common room. She couldn't sleep and decided to do some reading. After about five minutes, she heard someone else coming down. Ashley turned her head toward the stairs and smiled. "Hey, you."

"Hi. What are you doing up?" Sirius asked, as he yawned and sat down beside her.

"Couldn't sleep," Ashley shrugged, leaning her head on his chest. Sirius put his arm around her and they held hands, "I keep thinking about how we don't even have four months left in this place. Hogwarts is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I can't just leave it all behind."

"I know. I don't even want to think about having to apply for jobs. Honestly, what the bloody hell am I qualified for? Nothing, that's what. I was talking with James and he said as soon as we graduate, the two of us are looking for a flat. I'll probably just live off James for the rest of my life."

"I don't believe that for a second," Ashley stated, looking up at him, "You're going to do something great. I know it."

Sirius kissed the top of her head, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

**reviewsssss? haha ill really try to be better about updating.**


	19. Love and War

Yes, I'm still alive! And hoping you'll accept my pathetic apology as to why this chapter took so inexcusably long to post. Well, here goes...I've been rather enjoying my summer vacation, plus soem family issues, topped off with being glued to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. There might be some familiar things or people from that book in here, but nothing will be spoiled in this chapter, I assure you. I'll warn you in further chapters if it will contain a spoiler, but I don't think I'll let anything big slip, until I write my sequel. Assuming you'll all want a sequel, that is. So, anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. Enjoy the next chapter, though I apologize for it no being quite as long as many others.

**Love and War**

Lily and James still hadn't spoken since their last conversation when they were patrolling together. It was apparent that James was no longer the same immature boy he was back then. Sure, he still enjoyed a good prank, but he definitely cared. That much was obvious. Lily felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. "James."

"Hi, Lily," James said awkwardly.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," James nodded, not looking at her, but at his feet, "Can I speak to you for a moment?" Lily nodded and followed him just outside the Great Hall.

"So, what's up?" Lily asked nervously.

"I just want you to know that I'm finished. We've got just four months left of school, and I'm not going to make them miserable for you. I eon't bother you anymore. I guess you and I just weren't meant to be." James began to walk away, and Lily didn't want him to.

"Wait," Lily said. James stopped, but didn't turn around, "Maybe we are. It isn't as if I've ever given it a chance."

"I've never exactly given you a good reason to give it a chance," James noted.

"Can't argue there," Lily joked. She stepped closer to James and pressed her lips against his.

&&

Remus was with Nicole. Sirius was with Ashley. James was with Lily. They were all happy as could be. And soon enough, it was Graduation Day. Everyone had on their cloaks, ready to recieve their diplomas. Lori was snapping pictures away of everyone. Ashley and Sirius hadn't let go of each other's hands the entire time. Soon, it would be time to begin Auror training. That's what they all decided they would want to be, except for Lori, who had never been one for violence. She was going to ask for a job at Hogwarts. She was simply terrific at Ancient Runes, which was her one good subject, and was sure Dumbledore would allow her to teach, especially since Professor Miller was retiring.

They all graduated, and lived happily ever after. The end. Okay, maybe not. I wish I could say that this had a happy ending, but that would be a lie.

Six months passed happily, but nothing significant had happened. Ashley, Nicole, and Lily shared an apartment, and Sirius, Remus, and James shared one, not three blocks apart. One night, James and Lily went out to a nice resturant, and they both got all dolled up. Lily was wearing a silk lavender dress with strappy white heel sandals. James was wearing nice black pants and a navy blue button-down shirt. They looked great. After they finished eating, they went outside where it was just starting to snow a little bit. James smiled, hugged her, and got down on one knee. Lily's eyes opened in shock. He took her hand in his. "I know we've only been together for six months, but I've loved you for over seven years. You don't know how lucky I am to have you. You're so smart, and funny, and beautiful. Lily Evans, will you marry me?"

Lily was in complete and utter shock. It was sudden, but it also felt _right_. "Yes, James. Yes, I'll marry you."

&&

As soon as they got home that night, they found Remus, Nicole, Sirius, and Ashley all at the girls' place, as usual. Lily hid her hand in her jacket pocket so nobody would spot the ring before they got to announce the big news. "James and I have something we want to say," Lily said brightly. Sirius gasped and stood up. He hugged Lily and smiled.

"You're pregnant!"

"Well, that was a nice way to ruin the moment," James mumbled in Lily's ear. She smiled a bit, and shook her head.

"Not that I know of," Lily said to Sirius, "James asked me to marry him, and I've said yes."

They wanted to get married as soon as possible. No time was to be wasted, especially these days. Everyone was rushing into marriages in fear of Lord Voldemort. The deaths started to become more frequent and more numerous, and sure enough, the media wasn't helping any in the process of calming down the Wizarding World. It was all over the _Prophet_. All over the radio. And people will tell you to this day that even back then, when it was all just the beginning, they could feel in their guts that lives would forever be changed.

Ashley shot up and hugged them both, "Congratulations!" She smiled warmly and then went into the kitchen to get a bottle of water. "Ashley?" she heard Lily's voice. Ashley took a sip and replaced the cap on the bottle.

"Yes, soon to be, Mrs. James Potter?" Ashley asked, a tone of excitement evident in her voice.

Lily grinned, "Will you...Will you be my maid of honour?"

Ashley smiled a big, toothy grin, and cast her water aside, embracing Lily, "Of course!"

Lily hugged back and all was right with the world.

From then on, the only topic of conversation amongst the group was the upcoming wedding. Neither the bride nor the groom wanted a big wedding. A small, simple ceremony with those they loved most would definitely suffice. James had asked Sirius to act as best man, and Sirius happily agreed. Auror training for the group was going spectacular, and with all of the excitement over the wedding, Peter's more numerous absenses went barely noticed.

Whenever they did have a rare oprritunity to discuss their scarce friend, James and Sirius invented plenty of wild tails, including a theory that Peter had run off with a blind veela and they hadn't stopped consimating the relationship since their first meeting. Another theory, more accepted by the group, being that Peter simply forgot where they lived. Which, actually wouldn't be too big of a stretch.

The very last day of 1976 was upon the group, and they sat in the girl's apartment, getting so drunk that surely none of them would be leaving. "5...4...3...2...1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!" they burst out, all hugging and kissing one another.

And that night, be it the firewhisky or the fact that they were all together, the troubles with Voldemort had melt away, if only for one night.

The next morning, they all woke up as if they had played a rather complex game of _Twister_, with arms looped through legs and vice versa. "Would you people be so kind as to getting the bloody hell off of me?" Sirius bellowed from the very bottom.

Nicole took her leg out from across Sirius' chest, and Ashley removed her arm from Nicole's foot. Remus took his left hand out from under Nicole's neck and his right leg from under Ashley's left. James was sprawled out over the four of them, and Lily was to his left, half of her stuck from beneath him. "Please tell me we didn't have a mass orgy last night," Sirius said, covering his head with his hand, "I really am in no state to deal with something like that at this particular moment."

Everyone burst out laughing, and Lily and Nicole went into the kitchen to prepare some sort of breakfast.

The next morning, Lily dropped a second bomb. She didn't want to leave her friends, who she had lived with for more than seven years, but really, what choice did she have? "We - that being, James and I...er...decided not to wait until we're married to, er..." Lily trailed off, struggling to find the words.

"Isn't it a bit late for that, Lily?" Ashley questioned, raising an eyebrow, "Who do you think you're fooling? Nicole and I both hear the moaning from your bedroom."

Lily threw a pillow from the couch at her and she ducked, and so it hit Nicole. They all burst out into laughter, "Obviously you want to live with _him_," Ashley said with a grin, "Living with James comes with so many more personal rewards than, say, living with us," Ashley said as she she slung an arm around Nicole, who was sitting on the ground, writing.

Lily smiled, "So, you're okay with it, then?"

"Absolutey," Ashley and Nicole said in unison, though Nicole did not look up from her writing.

"What is it you've got there, anyway?" Lily asked, curiousity evident in her voice.

"My will," Nicole replied tonelessly.

Ashley and Lily exchanged alarmed looks, "Um - Not planning some sort of suicide there, are you, Nic?" Ashley asked cautiously, "Cause - erm..."

"No, you idiot," Nicole responded, looking up finally to give her a dirty look, "It's just, I'd rather be safe than sorry, you know? Poeple are dropping like flies out there. You never know."

Ashley and Lily couldn't deny that. It was true. More and more people were being taken and killed each and every day. It was a matter of time before the human race was completely extinct. But still, it was rather alarming finding your eighteen-year old friend making out a will. It just went to show the severity of the war they were currently being shoved into.

Ashley, Lily, Sirius, and James were all relieved to discover that James and Lily planned on staying in their neighborhood of Godric's Hollow, though, instead of getting an apartment together, they got a lovely house. They took their friends, to see what they thought before they went ahead and bought it.

"It's lovely," Nicole said honestly, after receiving a full tour from Lily, "I'm so happy for you guys. Really."

Lily grinned and hugged her, "Thanks, Nikki. I wonder which of you will decide to take a trip down the aisle next," she said, smiling at the fact she had managed to make the four of them feel beyond awkward.

"Guess it'll be whoever catches the bouquet, huh?" Ashley said faintly, not daring to steal a glance at Sirius.

"Whoever _what_?" James asked confusedly.

"It's a muggle custom," Lily explained to the groom-to-be, "I would throw the bouquet of flowers, and whoever catches it would be the next to wed."

"Well, that's ridiculous!" James shook his head in confusion, "Why wouldn't they just summon it if they wanted the damn flowers so badly?"

Lily shook her head in an I-Give-Up sort of way.

They bought the house, and within a mere fortnight, they were nearly completely moved in. Ashley crept out of bed one night, and tip-toed down the corridor and into what used to be Lily's bedroom. "I miss her, too," a familiar voice from behind Ashley said. Ashley didn't turn around.

"It's so much emptier," Ashley sighed, "Don't get me wrong - you're great company, Nicole. But we're not a trio anymore."

"That's what happens when you get married, I expect," Nicole shrugged, "You move on, and that usually means moving away."

The following morning, all six of them received an urgent message from Dumbledore, saying their services were greatly desired at the Weasley's home. Ashley thought the name sounded quite familiar. She racked her brain for several moments before it came to her. Molly Prewett and Arthur Weasley were Head Boy and Head Girl the first year Ashley had ever been to Hogwarts. They had married, and were known as blood-traitors for their liking to muggles and muggle-born witches and wizards.

They all flooed there, and Ashley at once took notice to the changes in Molly and Arthur. Ashley had remembered Molly as young, oppinionated, and quite pretty. She always had some sort of defiance about her and looked sharp. She had lost that edginess in the past couple of years, and Ashley immediately realized why. The house was crawling with children. Molly and Arthur had certainly been busy.

"Ashley," Molly said, giving her a quick hug, "My, it's been too long, hasn't it? You've certainly grown up since I saw you last."

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Molly, Arthur. What a great family you have," Ashley said, looking around at all the red-headed children.

"Yes, we've certainly had our hands full," Molly beamed around at the children, and for a moment, she looked like the Molly Prewett Ashley remembered from so many years back, "This is my son, Bill, he's six."

"You're pretty," Bill said, looking up at Ashley and smiling.

Ashley grinned, "You're not so bad yourself, kiddo." Bill laughed and ran into the sitting room.

"This is Charlie," Molly said, gesturing to a small boy who was without doubt younger than the first, "He's just recently turned four."

"Well, happy belated birthday," Ashley said, looking down at him. "You know, I think I have something for you," Ashley said, fidgeting in her purse, "Ah, here we are." She pulled out a little stuffed dragon and handed it to Charlie, "That's a present from me."

"Wow!" Charlie exclaimed in delight, "Thanks!" he said, looking at it intently, "Look what she got me, mum! Look! It's a dragon!"

"Yes, I see," Molly said, nodding and smiling at her son, "It's lovely. Just happened to have a spare in your purse?" Molly joked.

Ashley smiled, "My cousin Josh turned seven on the twenty-first, and I bought a dragon and a mini-broom stick. Decided to go with the broomstick, and held onto that little guy ever since."

"Well, you've made my son quite happy," Molly said fondly, turning her head to get a better look at her son and the dragon, who he had begun calling 'Alfie'.

Ashley glanced around. Lily and James were sitting beside one another, hand-in-hand at the kitchen table, drinking tea and speaking with Dumbledore. Remus and Nicole were speaking to Arthur and Mad-Eye in the corner, their expresions grave. Ashley turned to look for Sirius and couldn't help but smile. He was on the sitting room floor playing Exploding Snap with Bill.

"Your husband?" Molly asked, glancing in the direction of Sirius.

Ashley kept her gaze fixed on him and shook her head, "Nope, but maybe someday." Suddenly, crying sounded through the entire house and Molly closed her eyes and slightly shook her head, "That'll be Percy." Ashley remembered seeing another child on her way in and peered into the kitchen. Sure enough, a little boy was running toward Molly and she scooped him up, "Are you hungry, Perce?"

The boy nodded his head.

"Ask daddy to fix you something to eat," Molly said, setting him back down and he headed toward Arthur. Molly ran into the kitchen where the Charlie was calling for her, and Ashley wandered into the sitting room with Sirius and Bill. She played with them for a while, and then Molly called them to join the others in the kitchen, where they all sat around the table, provided with all the food they could have hoped for.

"You may be curious," Dumbledore spoke up once people had begun eating their dinner, "as to why I have called you all here tonight." Ashley looked around at all the faces. Lily, James, Nicole, Molly, Arthur, Remus, Sirius, Frank, Alice, Hagrid, McGonagall, Mad-Eye, some people Ashley did not know, and finally, the ever so mysterious Peter Pettigrew. Ashley was introduced to the rest, who were called Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Sturgis Padmore, and Emmeline Vance. Needless to say, Molly had to put a charm on the table to expand for all these guests. Ashley couldn't tell if Molly and Arthur were in on what Dumbledore needed, "As you know, Lord Voldemort is, as we all fear, is at large. But I beg of you, do not believe all that the _Prophet_ has to say. One thing should be clear, though. Lord Voldemort must be stopped."

"And you want us to band together to do it?" Emmeline asked, looking excited at the prospect of some action. Ashley immediately admired the woman, who appeared to be a bit older than she. She reminded Ashley a bit of herself.

Dumbledore seemed to be considering this for a moment or so, "Not the exact choice of words I had in mind, Emmeline, but in a nutshell, yes."

"Why'd you pick us?" Alice called out, and then shrunk back in her seat, like a child in school who had spoken out of turn.

Dumbledore peered at her over his spectacles, "I choose the best, my dear."

This seemed to be answer enough for Alice, who nodded at Dumbledore gratefully and said no more. Frank and Alice too, were training to be Aurors, and had formed a friendship with the group.

"So, is there some sort of plan of attack?" James asked curiously, cramming mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"What did we say about talking with your mouth full?" Lily muttered under her breath.

"Am I your boyfriend or your child?" James snapped back.

"That depends on what age you decide upon acting," Lily countered.

"Lily, James," Dumbledore said, but his tone was cheerful and happy. He put his hands together as if he were about to pray, and then put them under his chin, "Ah, young love. At the moment, I regret to tell you, no, there is not a plan. At least, not a plan that I believe will have any effect whatsoever on somebody such as Lord Voldemort.

"I will, however, stress the importance of keeping his followers to a minimum. The less followers Voldemort has, the more vulnerable he shall become. I have decided to begin, well...club wouldn't exactly be a proper term, but for argument's sake, let's say I wanted to begin one, based on the demise of Lord Voldemort. Does that sound like something anyone here would be interested in?"

Everyone looked at each other, and they knew that Dumbledore could see it on their faces. They were all overjoyed at the idea of a way to get rid of someone so brutally evil, and thus, the Order of the Phoenix was born.

**So what did you think? PLEASEE Review. Remember, reviews inspire updates! **


	20. Rose Petals

**Okay, I admit, I'm a little bit proud of myself. No, not because this chapter is so amazingly good (that's for the readers to decide) but because I finished it in less than 24 hours! A big accomplishment for me, especially with such a busy day. I hope you enjoy it! Reviews mean a lot to me!**

**Rose Petals**

Ashley collapsed on the armchair in her apartment. Lily was dropping by so often, it was like she still lived there. She didn't even have a chance to miss Lily being around. Lily was literally around more now than when she lived in the bloody apartment. She was driving Ashley crazy with all the wedding plans, to the point where Ashley's vocabulary had shrunken to, "Sounds good", and a series or shrugs, grunts, and nods. She felt like a damned troll.

But she dealt with it. Lily was her best friend, and hopefully, Ashley would be putting Lily through the same stress someday. Not, to say, that she was anywhere near ready for marriage. That whole concept was utterly ridiculous. And whenever Lily wasn't around, she would go to the Burrow to babysit for Molly and Arthur. Ashley loved all of the Weasley children as though they were her own family, and actually, if you traced her mother's ancestry back far enough, they were family. Funny how things in the Wizarding World worked.

Ashley had nearly forgotten what Sirius' face even looked like. Which is why on the first evening she had not seen Lily in about a fortnight, Sirius happened to drop by. She jumped out of her chair and grinned ear-to-ear, "Sirius," she said, hugging him tightly, "This wedding is killing me."

"It hasn't been a picnic for me, either," Sirius responded, leading her to the couch.

"You mean James is actually working?" Ashley asked disbelievingly.

"No way," Sirius shook his head in disgust, "I thought you knew him, Ashley. No, it's Lily! She's been putting us to work for ages. I snuck off to see you, actually, she doesn't know I'm here. I just came to say goodbye, cause once I go back, Lily will likely chop my head off and feed it to a house-elf. I'm supposed to be picking up the ruddy dressrobes. She's gone mad, she has," Sirius shook it all away, and smiled one of his famous Sirius Black grins. He kissed her and stood, "Well, I'd best be off. Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Ashley smiled, glad he had risked his status as a free man to see her. But the consequences for abandoning Lily a mere week before the wedding would indeed, be dire.

The wedding day had come. It was, like planned, a small ceremony in James and Lily's backyard. The guests were limited to just the Order of the Phoenix, and some old Hogwarts friends, plus families. Everyone invited had shown up, except for Lily's sister, Petunia, and that dreadful oaf she called a husband.

Lily was absolutely beautiful. She was wearing a simple yet elegant white dress, her make-up, courtesy of Ashley, was done to perfection, and her hair, courtesy of Nicole, looked radiant, though it couldn't currently be seen under her veil. Lily took a deep breath. This was it. This was actually it. She was honeslty getting _married_. Married to _James Potter_. Sometimes she still couldn't believe it.

The music began to play and Lily smacked Ashley and Nicole. "Go!" she barked, her beautiful radiance vanishing and being replaced by a murderous raving lunatic. More out of fear of Lily than not wanting to screw up the ceremony, the girls ran toward the door. Ashley linked arms with Sirius, and then made their way down the aisle, and parted as the very end, Ashley going to the left, Sirius going to the right. Ashley and Nicole had on beautiful pale green dresses on, that beautifully matched the grass and the tress. Nicole and Remus came down the aisle next, and parted. Ashley smiled over at James and gave him a thumbs-up. And then, all attention was focused on Lily as she walked down the aisle, grasping onto her father. There was no denying her beauty in that moment. She looked like an angel.

Lily had asked Ashley's youngest sister, Ava, who was now almost six, to be the flower girl, and Bill Weasley was acting as the ring bearer. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, and then the reception came. "Ashley! Hey - Ashley!" she heard a familiar voice from behind her. She smiled at Sirius, who was getting them both wine, and bent down a bit, "Hey, Bill."

"Are you coming over tomorrow?" Bill asked excitedly.

"Wouldn't miss it," Ashley said with a smile. She was rather fond of these Weasley's.

Bill smiled and ran back to his mother, who was yelling at Charlie not to eat other people's food. Ashley just smiled and turned back to face Sirius.

"I believe you've got an admirer there," Sirius nodded his head toward Bill, "I think I've got some competition."

Ashley laughed and put her arm around him, "As happy as I am for Lily and James...Merlin, I'm glad this wedding stuff is over with."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, "Maybe we'll get the good ol' Lily back now."

"James Potter got married," Ashley was still refusing to believe it.

"I'm still in denial," Sirius said, shaking his head.

"I know it's gonna be rough," Ashley said, taking his hand, "but you're still his best friend. And your place'll be the first he goes when he and Lily row about something, which you can be sure, won't take too long."

Sirius smiled and nodded, "You're right."

They walked over to their table, which they shared with Dumbledore, Lori, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Nicole, and Remus. "That was a lovely ceremony," Professor McGonagall commented.

"Indeed, it was," Dumbledore agreed, "Look at them."

Everyone did, and smiled at what they saw. Lily and James weren't even on the dance floor. They had moved to a completely secluded area and were swaying back and forth, looking at each other as if nobody else were there.

Nicole sighed, "I want that."

"Do you - er - Do you want to dance?" Remus said uncomfortably.

Nicole shrugged, "Sure."

They two of them got up and went out onto the dance floor. "Would you care to dance, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked, a tiny grin on his face. Ashley and Sirius exchanged a look.

Minerva McGonagall looked positively alarmed.

"Come on, Professor," Ashley said eagerly, wanting to see this, "One dance won't kill you."

McGonagall looked defeated, "Oh...Very well."

Ashley giggled a little as she drank some more wine. "Getting a little drunk?" Sirius asked hopefully. Lori shook her head at him, and got up to talk to Dawn, who was sitting by Mad-Eye.

"Maybe," Ashley answered with a smile. And then, she felt a throbbing pain in her head and raised her hand to cover it. She saw something. It was a group of small children. Ashley didn't get to see their specific features, but she knew there were at least five or six of them. They gave her an oddly comforting feeling. Who could they possibly be? The pain in her head lightened and relief washed over her.

"Ashley? Ash...Are you okay?" she heard Sirius' voice.

"Yeah," Ashley replied groggily

"What was that about?" Sirius questioned, concern etched in his features.

Ashley smiled. She loved that he cared, "It was strange. Call me crazy, but it was sort of like a premonition. A vision, maybe?" Ashley said confusedly, more to herself than Sirius.

"A vision?" Sirius repeated, only his voice didn't sound the least bit skeptical. It was more like worry, really.

Ashley nodded, "I saw...children."

"Children?" Sirius echoed, and Ashley thought he sounded miles and miles away.

"That's right," Ashley replied.

"Like..._our_ children?" Sirius questioned nervously.

"No," Ashley shook her head, and then thought about it. Who was she to say they weren't theirs? "Well, maybe. I don't know. They could have been anyone's. Though, to be honest, there were a lot of them."

"That's pretty abnormal," Sirius stated, "Even for you."

Ashley playfully hit him, "I'll talk to Dumbledore about it when I get the chance, but just for today, let's be care-free ignorant kids again, okay?"

"I could get on board with that."

Weeks had passed. A month, actually. Alice and Frank Longbottom had been attacked in their own home and had narrowly escaped. It was Lord Voldemort himself. He didn't even send one of his Death Eaters to do the job. The fact that he was now open to doing his own biding was terrifying. Nicole has gone out with Remus, and Ashley was stuck home alone. She decided to go and drop by Lily and James' house to see what was up with them. It was a clear night. The stars shone bright over Ashley's head, and the cresent moon was lovely. The temperature was rising with each day, thankfully, and Ashley could actually take a walk over to their house instead of apparating or flooing for once.

Peter was starting to come around more, and Ashley guessed that he really had had a girlfriend or something, and she probably came to her senses and dumped him. Ashley sort of felt bad that the gang always thought the worst of Peter. Even though she was by no means as close to him as she was to all of her other friends. She looked around as children started going into their houses. It was getting rather late, and they'd probably be tucked into their little beds soon.

Ashley finally stopped at their house. She gaped at what she was. Flashes of light from inside the house were blasting in every which way. Something was wrong. Ashley ran into the house as fast as her legs would permit, which was pretty quickly. She wrenched open the door and pulled out her wand. "_Stupefy_!" she shouted, blasting the curse at Lily and James' attacker. Lily was on the right side of the room, closer to Ashley. James was all the way in the back left, closer to the attacker.

He turned around and yelled, "_Crucio_!", but Ashley had jumped out of the way, colliding painfully with an umbrella stand. They both recovered, and Ashley was face-to-face with Voldemort, though she wasn't afraid. "Foolish girl," he hissed. He raised his wand, but Ashley was quicker. She screamed, "_Impedimenta_!" stopping Voldemort, and then he sped back up, but he moved in slow motion. Ashley gestured for James to come to her and then to Lily to do the same. The spell didn't last long on him, and so, James, Lily, and Ashley raised their wands, and at once, screamed, "_Avad_ - " but it was too late. Voldemort had escaped in such a way, that it knocked the three of them off their feet, literally.

James was to first to jump up, and he helped up his wife and best friend, "All right?" he asked, looking back and forth between them. They both nodded.

"Thanks," Lily said gratefully, "I thought we were goners."

"Like I was just gonna watch in the corner with a bowl of bloody popcorn," Ashley mumbled, taking her left hand to dab the bit of blood on her lip.

"You look a mess," Lily said, shaking her head.

"You don't look so great yourself," Ashley retorted. It was true. All three of them, actually, looked horrible. James has a black eye and some gashes on his face. Lily had just as many gashes and a bloody nose. Ashley had a split lip, a twisted ankle, and a broken arm.

They wordlessly got into the fire and flooed to the Weasley's. Ashley hoped that none of the children were still awake, and hoped more that she wouldn't wake them. She didn't want them to know what it was like out there. She didn't want them to see the evil threatening their innocence. She was in luck. Molly was pacing around the kitchen, no doubt waiting for Arthur to return home.

"Ashley! Lily! James!" she shouted, she seemed almost glad to see them all so beaten, so she would have something to do, "What on Earth - "

"Voldemort attacked," James explained, stuffing his wand inside his pocket, "He escaped."

Molly was silent for a few seconds, and then gestured for them to walk further inside the kitchen. She had them each sit down and fixed their wounds. Just as she was finishing up James, Arthur came inside.

"Oh, Arthur!" she nearly screamed so loudly, Ashley wouldn't be surprised if all the kids woke up, "He's made another attack."

"Oh, dear," Arthur sighed, putting aside his brief case, "Ashley, can you send a patronus to Dumbledore about this?"

Ashley nodded, and got out her wand. "Voldemort attacked Lily, James, and I." The silver tiger left the room to deliver the message to Dumbledore. She sighed and sat down, "Guess we ought to tell the others, eh?"

"Yeah, I got this," James said, and he sent one patronus to Remus and Nicole, and another to Sirius. Several minutes later, James, Lily, and Ashley were joined by Dumbledore, Nicole, Sirius, and Remus.

"Are you all right?" Sirius asked worriedly, running toward Ashley.

Ashley nodded, "Fine."

"Thank Merlin," Sirius said, hugging her tightly.

Later that night, Sirius came home with Ashley, and Nicole went home with Remus. Ashley looked over at Sirius, and the moment she did, a realization hit her. "This really is war, isn't it?" Ashley asked, fixed on his grave expression.

He sighed, "Unfortunately so."

"And...And some of us...We might not make it." There. She had said it. The elephant in the room.

"We will," Sirius said stubbornly, "You, and me, and James, and Lily, and Nicole, and Remus, and Peter."

"What...What if we don't?" Ashley's voice cracked as she said it. She was being realistic.

"We deal with it when the time comes," Sirius replied, the boyish cheeriness gone from his face, "We fight til the end."

This was a real war. People were out there fighting and dying each and every day. Nobody knew who the next people to vanish from existence would be. It could be anyone, really. The Longbottoms had been attacked a second time, and this time, barely made it out. Frank was still in St. Mungo's recovering, and Alice was losing it.

One night, Ashley banged on the door of Remus and Sirius' apartment after a long day of training. She hadn't seen Sirius all day, and she couldn't remember him saying he wasn't going. She was worried something had happened to Sirius. "Sirius! Are you in there!?" the door flew open and Ashley stepped inside, thinking it was some sort of trap, but she had to know.

And then, she saw the rose petals all over the floor and the champagne on the table, "Surprise," Sirius said. There was the boyish charm and smile. Ashley made like she was about to hug him, and then smacked him.

"Is that some new way of saying thank you that I'm unaware of?"

"You scared me half to death," Ashley said with wide eyes, "I thought..."

"I'm fine," Sirius replied, putting his hands on her crossed arms, looking her in the eye.

"Where's Remus?" Ashley asked, looking around.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring up my friends during an intimate moment," Sirius told her.

"Ah, is that what this is supposed to be, then?" Ashley smiled, "What, are you going to ask me to marry you or something?" She began laughing at the thought. Sirius' face fell and she clapped her right hand over her mouth, "Oh my god. You were...You were going to ask me to marry you?"

Sirius just glanced at the floor, which was all the response Ashley needed. She felt terrible.

"Sirius...I'm...I'm so sorry. I just - "

"Didn't think a guy like me would want to get married?" Sirius finished for her.

Ashley shook her head, "That's not at all what I was going to say."

"Maybe not," Sirius shrugged indignantly, "But you were thinking it."

"Don't put words in my mouth," Ashley snapped.

"So, I'm going to take this as a rejection," Sirius said, and he turned away, picking up the rose petals.

"Sirius - Don't!" Ashley pleaded, but he wasn't listening. He was completely ignoring her.

Ashley had taken to pacing around the sitting room. Nicole was on the couch reading some magazine and Ashley continued pacing. She had owled Sirius, and it had been a while. He couldn't be so angry as to not answer, could he? "You're driving me mad," Nicole commented from behind her magazine.

"Huh?" Ashley said absently. She then looked over at Nicole, "What in Merlin's name are you reading?"

"It's a new magazine. Just came out, this is the first edition," Nicole answered, "Remember Xenophilius?"

Ashley searched her mind, "Doesn't sound like a name one would forget. Xenophilius...as in Lovegood?" Ashley questioned, raising an eyebrow. Xenophilius Lovegood was an odd one, at the least. He was in the same year as Ashley, only he was in Ravenclaw, "Is there an article about him in there or something?"

Nicole shook her head, "He's the editor of it."

"Really?" Ashley said, surprised. She had always figured he would become a Nargle Hunter or something, though she wasn't quite sure what a Nargle was.

"Yep," Nicole nodded, "I'll tell you, the magazine really brings out good ol' Xeno's personality."

"I never cared for him," Ashley shrugged, "He always seemed rather - "

"Just cause he's a bit...out there - "

"No, no," Ashley shook her head, "It's got nothing to do with that. He just always seemed sort of...well, he wasn't very courageous, was he?" Just then, Ashley's owl came flying through the window, and Ashley made a quick dash for the letter.

"Sirius replied?" Nicole asked, setting aside the magazine.

Ashley nodded, tearing open the letter. "_I'll come by tomorrow. Love, Sirius_." Ashley sighed. It wasn't much, but they would talk. Ashley glanced over at the clock. "Crap," she said, picking up her purse and running toward the fireplace, "I have to babysit." She waved good-bye, grabbed some floo powder, and said loudly and clearly, "The Burrow!"

She emerged from the fire, patting down her clothing, and was nearly trampled by Bill and Charlie. Percy was on the couch, reading a children's story. She has really grown attatched to these children. All three of them.

Molly smiled and gave Ashley a quick hug, "We're just going out for dinner," Molly said, looking over at Arthur, "The boys have already been fed, and we'll be home within two hours."

"Enjoy yourselves," Ashley said with a smile. They smiled back, and left the house. Ashley wandered into the sitting room. Percy was content on the chair, looking at one of his little picture books. Percy was a very smart little boy, and at two, understood twice the amount of words anyone else his age could. Now it was just Bill and Charlie. They were easy, though. They were happy just having a conversation.

"You want to be an Auror, right?" Bill asked excitedly.

Ashley smiled, "Yep. I'm in training now."

"Have you ever killed anybody?" Bill asked, his eyes wide.

"Fortunately, I haven't," Ashley responded, "What do you boys want to be when you grow up?"

Charlie looked happy to answer, "Anything that has to do with dragons."

"Dragons, huh? And why's that?" Ashley asked him curiously.

Charlie lifted Alfie, "Because they're so cool."

Ashley laughed. A typical answer from a child so young. What were the chances Charlie would grow up to work with dragons? Ashley turned toward Bill, "And what about you?"

Bill seemed to be thinking about this question carefully, and, for a moment, he almost looked like an adult, "I'm not really sure yet."

"Well," Ashley said sweetly, "You've got plenty of time."

Ashley woke up the next morning to find Nicole in the kitchen, reading the _Daily Prophet_, eating toast, and drinking coffee. "How many dead?" Ashley asked. It was such a sad thing that this had become routine. It was bad enough to ask _if_ anyone was dead, led alone how _many_ were dead. Nicole peered up at her from the newspaper. "Two, so far. But there's still the evening _Prophet_."

"Anyone we know?" Ashley asked.

Nicole nodded and Ashley dropped the mug she was holding, not caring about the shattering, "Who?"

"Serena Strickland," Nicole responded.

"Serena?" Ashley asked. Serena, Ashley remembered, was the girl that supposedly saw Sirius and Nicole hook-up, and then decided to rub it in Ashley's face, about a year ago.

"Yep," Nicole nodded, "She was killed by some death eater."

"Why?" Ashley asked. She had never gotten on well with Serena, but she still cared. Serena wasn't evil, after all, just a bitch.

"Supposedly, she saw the murder of Erastus Hicklebaughn, and they were afraid she'd turn them in. She put up quite a fight, actually. But the death eater escaped just as the Aurors showed up. That's the only way they knew it was a death eater."

"Who was Erastus Hicklebaughn?" Ashley questioned.

"Erastus was in the Law Enforcement squad," Nicole shrugged, "Guess they thought he was a threat of some sort."

"Guess so," Ashley murmured. She couldn't believe Serena was actually dead. Just then, the fire turned green and Sirius stepped out of it. Ashley gave him a weak half-smile, and he attempted the same. Nicole couldn't tell whose was more pathetic.

"Well, um," Nicole said awkwardy, "I'm sure I have something better to do, um, far away somewhere." And so, she left the room, but Ashley was willing to bet she was listening intently at her bedroom door.

"Heard about Serena?" Sirius asked, obviously attempting to break the ice.

"Yeah," Ashley nodded solemnly, "It's horrible."

"I was such a jerk," Sirius muttered, taking a cautious step closer toward Ashley.

"So was I," Ashley said, also willing herself to take a step foward.

"You were caught off guard," Sirius shrugged, "I can't blame you. And then I started putting all these words in your mouth."

Ashley smiled up at him, "Truce?"

"Truce."

Ashley and Sirius decided to go over to see Lily and James one afternoon. It was a lovely day. March was almost here, and the weather had been surprisingly warm, considering it was still Winter. Ashley knocked on the door, and James welcomed them in, a grave look evident on his face.

"Was there another attack?" Ashley asked at once.

"Yes, but not on us," James said, bags noticable under his eyes. He led them into the sitting room where Lily was on the couch, her eyes red and puffy, sobbing uncontollably. Ashley rushed over to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"What is it?" Ashley questioned nervously, "What's happened?"

"My...My mum and - and my dad...He's...He's had them killed!"

**So, I'm pretty sure it was longer than my last chapter. Anyway, please let me know what you thought. I love reviews, and trust me, they inspire me to work, so if you like it so far, let me know. I have a feeling my next chapter is going to be a bit difficult to write, because I have some ideas of the things that I'd like to discuss. Much of which, is giving me thoughts of writing a sequel. But I'll worry about that once this story's finished. If nobody wants me to write a sequel, however, I won't do it, but boy, do I have a lot of ideas for one. **


	21. So, This Is Growing Up?

**Okay so, here's the deal. As it turns out, I was off with my dates. The gang graduated in 1976, and I had it as 1978. So, I changed dates and ages in some previous chapters. The thing is, now it'll take me even longer to finish the story. I had planned on only three or four more chapters, but, since I have two extra years to write, it'll probably be between seven and ten more. I'm not sure yet if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I already have my ending, though, and I know who's going to live, who's going to die, who's having kids, how many, and what their names are! Haha, I really plan ahead. After the last chapter i'll have an epilogue with most of the characters saying what happened to them. Then i'll start my sequel. Sound good? Well, I'm going to let you get to the story now, cause I'm rambling. Please review! Thanks to those who do, it means the world to me!**

**So, This is Growing Up?**

The funeral was small, and Lily's eyes remained dry the entire time. After initially finding out, it was as if she cried all the tears she possibly could. She was completely shocked. She didn't speak to anybody, not even her friends, or James. Her first words all day was her speech that she gave at the funeral.

Lily and Petunia each gave a speech, but Petunia didn't look nearly as sad as she looked angry. As soon as the guests started clearing out, Petunia charged over to Lily. "This is _your_ fault."

Lily looked up at Petunia, disbelief in her eyes, "W - What?"

"_Your _lot did this," Petunia went on, "If you didn't have to go and become such a - a - a fr - "

"Don't you dare," James said angrily, stepping into the conversation.

"This isn't any of your business, _Potter_," Petunia didn't even look at him, but the venom in her voice was undeniable.

"What concers my wife concerns me as well," James told her, not backing down, "So just get the bloody hell away from her."

"Don't you dare speak to my wife that way," Vernon Dursley snarled.

"I'll speak to her however I like, Dursley," James shot back angrily.

"Stop!" Lily screamed.

Everyone silenced and looked over at her, "I _don't_ want to argue today, and I _don't_ want to fight. I just want to say good bye to the people who were there for me all my life in a respectful way."

"We wouldn't need to say good bye," Petunia said, lowering her voice to an angry whisper, "if _you_ hadn't turned out to be such a _freak_." She threw a dirty look at Lily and walked off, Vernon following behind. They passed Ashley and Nicole, who gave the Dursley's the dirtiest look they could muster.

Ashley went back to Sirius' place after the funeral. She put her bag on a chair and looked in the mirror in the living room to take off her earrings and let down her hair. As she was taking off the right earring, she saw Sirius come up from behind her and felt him put his arms around her comfortingly. "Poor Lily," Ashley mumbled.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed sadly, "I wish it could have been my parents instead."

Ashley turned around to face him and put her hands on his shoulders, "Strange as it would sound to anyone else, that's actually very kind."

"Lily's sister's a pretty big bitch, huh?" Sirius commented, taking off his tie.

"That's an understatement," Ashley muttered.

"Where does she get off blaming Lily?" Sirius questioned angrily.

"She's always resented Lily for being a witch," Ashley explained, "Petunia's always been jealous of Lily."

"I can see why," Sirius mumbled, "She looks like the love child of a horse and a twig."

Ashley couldn't help but smile. She even gave a little chuckle, and then felt incredibly guilty about it.

"It's okay," Sirius said, as if reading her thoughts, "It's all right to smile, to laugh. Actually, the more laughs you can have, the better. Smiling is a rare oppritunity these days."

"Can't argue there," Ashley whispered.

"It'll be over soon," Sirius assured her, "and then we can have a normal life."

"And what will this life be like?" Ashley asked, as they both sat on the couch. She rested her head against his chest and he put his arm around her.

"We'll have three or four kids, maybe. Live in a big house, not far from Lily and James. Remus and Nicole will be married and live nearby as well. Peter'll probably be living in Lily and James' basement or something, unless by some chance he gets married and has a family. The Potter's, Black's, Lupin's, and the possible Pettigrew's will start a whole new generation of Marauders at Hogwarts and will be the best of friends. We'll have happy lives and live happily ever after."

Ashley smiled and squeezed his hand, "I hope with all my heart that you're right."

"I am," Sirius assured her, "this will all end soon, and we can have a life just like that."

Lily was in a state of utter depression. There was absolutely no cheering her up. No matter what anyone did, she was still completely miserable. Not that anybody was blaming her, of course. It was more than understandable that she would feel upset. But what everyone was trying to prevent, was Lily from feeling any guilt. It was by no means her fault that her parents had passed away, and they couldn't stand having her think that. Her parents wouldn't want that feeling inside their daughter.

James's heart broke whenever he saw her. It hurt that nothing he could say, nothing he could do would make any difference. He had tried almost everything. Maybe he just needed to let her grieve for a while. Lily only left her room to go to the bathroom. She had dropped six pounds, and almost a month had passed.

"Lily," James said, sliding through the bedroom door.

"Yes?" Lily said weakly.

"Look, Lil, we now that you need to grieve, but it's been a month. You can't just give up living. There are still people here who care about you, who you care about." Ashley was determined to get her out of bed.

"I know," Lily murmured.

"We need you, Lily," James said, taking her hand, "Now more than ever. We need to stick together."

"I know it's hard, and I know it's scary," Nicole said, taking Lily's other hand, "But you have to keep going. You need to realize that you're still living, and you've got to fight to keep it that way."

"We love you, Lily," Sirius said, stepping closer, "And we're here for you if you need us, but you have to let it out. You can't bottle all of this inside. It isn't healthy, and eventually, you'll crack."

"We just want to see you smiling again," Remus added from beside Nicole, "We miss our best friend."

Tears were streaming down Lily's cheeks. She got out of bed and pulled all of them into a hug, crying hysterically. It was a nice moment for the six of them. And soon, day by day, things got better.

March had come and Ashley was re-examining her relationship with Sirius. Would he ever propose again? Did she even _want_ him to propose again? Maybe his feelings had changed. She wasn't sure of her own feelings, let alone Sirius's. But then, there were a lot more important things going on, right?

Sirius didn't seem to notice her worrying. If anything, their relationship was better than ever, probably because they were so afraid they'd lose each other that they cherished every moment. On the second Thursday of March, a meeting with the Order took place. "He's getting stronger every day," Dumbledore announced, "I can't stress enough how important it is to be as careful as you can. And remember, you know as well as I, that the _Daily Prophet_ is not to be trusted at all times."

"It's a bunch of rubbish!" James agreed angrily.

"Quite correct, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore nodded, "And now, Molly, if you would please serve us your delicious ham."

"Ashley!" Bill's voice said happily. Ashley smiled and gave Bill a hug.

"How's it going?" Ashley said, looking down at her little friend.

"Good. I gave Percy a huge wedgie before."

"Nice," Ashley laughed, giving Bill a little hi-five.

Just then, there was a knocking at the door. Arthur got up and opened the door, "Ah, Andrea. Good to see you. Your sister's inside."

"Great. I've been looking everywhere for her," Andrea pulled down the hood of her robes. Andi Hartford was quite pretty. She had dark brown hair that fell down past her back. She, like Ashley, inherited their mother's dark eyes, and she had a nose that made her appear fox-like. She was compared to a fox quite a lot, personality and appearance. Her patronous was even the form of a fox.

"Andi!" Ashley cried upon seeing her sister, who she hadn't seen in months.

"Ash!" Andrea said happily, hugging her sister, "I wish I could have come to see you after the attack, but I was doing some undercover work."

"It's okay," Ashley replied. Andrea was three years older than Ashley. She was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and an Auror.

"Hello, everyone," Andi said, greeting the table, "Um, I have something I want to say, and I thought you all should be the first to know. I've actually been hiding this for a while."

She took off her robes to reveal a very plump belly. The table was speechless.

"You got fat?" Sirius said confusedly, "Why would you - Oh my god, you're pregnant!" Ashley hit him and rolled her eyes.

"Congratulations," everyone said, taking turns to hug the eldest Hartford sister.

"Is it - "

"It's Clarke's."

"Clarke...As in Clarke Belcore? Andi, you broke up with him, like, seven months ago."

"I'm...I'm seven months pregnant, Ash."

"_What_? You're gonna have a baby in two months? And you didn't tell anyone? And...And...Oh my god, you can't keep going undercover for the Order! What if something happens to the baby?"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with your sister, Andrea," Dumbledore said, stepping in, "I can't allow you to keep working for us while you're pregnant. I can't risk the health of a baby, or your own for that matter."

Andrea sighed, "All right."

"So, Clarke just left you? He's not even helping you or anything? I swear, he's the - "

"Clarke doesn't _know_," Andrea said, as if this were obvious.

"_What_?" Ashley said, her eyes widening, "Andrea, you've got to _tell_ him. He might want to be a part of the baby's life. He has a right to know."

"I'm scared, though," Andrea sighed, "I don't want to ruin his life."

"You won't ruin his life," Ashley replied, "This child is _both_ of yours."

"I know," Andrea said quietly, "I know this sounds crazy, but I think mum is pregnant as well."

"_Mum_? You've got to be joking. She's 40!" Ashley cried in shock.

"Yeah, well," Andrea shrugged, "I've seen the woman pregnant six times. I know the signs. I'd better be going."

"No, Andrea. Please, stay for dinner," Molly said, holding out a plate for her.

"No, I couldn't - "

"I insist," Molly told her sternly, making it clear she wouldn't take no as an answer.

"Well," Andrea looked around at everyone, "okay. Thank you, Molly."

Andi was spending more and more time at Ashley and Nicole's place. She had entered her eighth month of pregnancy. They kept encouraging her to tell Clarke, but she was being awfully stubborn about it. One day, there was a knock on the door and Nicole opened it. "Andi...What's the matter?" Andi looked sad. Her eyes were watery and her cheeks were pale.

"Clarke's seeing someone," Andi said miserably.

"What...How do you know that?" Nicole questioned, sitting Andi down on the couch.

"I...I saw him with this woman. She was pretty. They were in Hogsmeade together. This would ruin his relationship with her, and he seemed so happy."

"You need to tell him, Andrea," Ashley said, stepping into the room with some tea for her sister, "Before the baby is born, preferably."

"I don't know if I can," Andrea sighed, "I guess I'm not brave enough."

"You're brave enough to risk your life everyday, spying on Death Eaters. You were brave enough to be sorted into Gryfindor. But you're not brave enough for _this_?" Ashley cried disbelievingly.

"It's a different kind of bravery," Andrea whispered.

"Rubbish," Ashley told her, "Bravery is bravery and that's all there is to it. So you can either run and hide, or face this head on."

"I can't," Andi said, her eyes growing wide.

"Why the bloody hell not?"

"Because I'm having a baby," Andi replied.

"I'm aware," Ashley muttered.

"No, no," Nicole said, jumping back into the conversation, "I...I think she's in labor." Andi nodded in agreement.

"You can't be," Ashley said, her eyes growing as wide as Andi's, "You've still got a month to go!"

"I'm sorry, would you like me to tell it to go back inside for another month, when it's more convenient?" Andi snapped, "Get me to St. Mungo's."

"Right," Ashley said, and she, along with Nicole, helped Andi into the fire.

Several minutes later, all of the Hartford kids had flooed to St. Mungo's from Hogwarts. Aurora and Andrew Hartford had arrived, and all of Ashley's friends. After an hour, everyone had arrived and things began settling down. Ashley grabbed Sirius's hand and led him up off his seat. "We need to get Clarke."

"How are we supposed to know where to find him?" Sirius questioned confusedly.

"He's a healer here. Andi saw him in Hogsmeade. He must have been on his lunch break or something. I just can't remember which level he works on. I'm pretty sure it's not Artifact Accidents. I don't think it's Creature-Induced Incidents, either. So, that leaves Magical Bugs, Potion and Plant Poisoning, and Spell Damage."

"What are you doing?" a voice from behind them said. They spun around.

"Aly! Do you remember which floor Clarke works on?"

Aly thought for a moment or so, "No, sorry. I know it was either Magical Bugs or Spell Damage though. I can't remember which. Why don't you ask for him at the front desk?"

"Good idea," Ashley said, "Bye, Al!"

"No, I'm coming with you," Aly replied, "It's boring as hell back there. I'm happy for Andi and everything, but _Merlin_, everyone knows I have the attention span of a fly."

"Okay, come on, quickly," Ashley told her, and they all hurried to the front desk.

"Hello, I'm Edie Everett. How may I be of assistance?"

"Hi. Um, my sister's having a baby - "

"Aw, how lovely! Just give me her name and I'll tell you where she is," Edie said, her cheery face getting even cheerier at the thought of new life.

"We know where she is, thank you," Ashley said, trying to be fast and polite at once, which wasn't easy, "The father is a healer here, and he doesn't know the baby is being born. We just need to know what floor he works on so we can get him to my sister before his baby is born. You wouldn't want to have you child be born and not know about it, right?"

"Of course, dear. What's his name?"

"Clarke Belcore," Ashley said quickly.

"Ah, Clarke! He's a charming young fellow, no? Yes, let's see," Edie went through a list on her desk and smiled, "Ah! Here we are. Clarke Belcore, Magical Bugs. That's on the second floor."

"Thank you very much!" Ashley said, running with Sirius and Aly at her heels. They got up to the second floor, just in time to see Clarke walking quickly down the hallway. He was handsome in a dorky kind of way. He had gold square-rimmed glasses that hid his bright blue eyes. He had curly, dirty blonde hair, and he was extremely tall.

"Clarke!" Ashley yelled from the other end of the corridor.

"Ashley? Aly? Is that you?" Clarke squinted.

"Yes, we _need_ to talk to you," Ashley said desperately. His lime green robes were absolutely blinding.

"I'm sorry, but I can't talk at the moment. I need to get back to a patient with a horrible case of dragon pox."

"Andi's having a baby!" Ashley and Aly yelled at the same time.

"Is she?" Clarke said, gulping loudly, "She's seeing someone, then?"

"No," Ashley said, shaking her head, "You don't understand...Clarke, the baby is _yours_. She was afraid to tell you, so she just never did. But I thought you had a right to know. So, if you want to see her..."

"She never told me?" Clarke said, his eyes looking hurt and sort of angry at the same time.

"No," Ashley said sympathetically, "Guess this means you don't want to see her?"

Clarke glanced at her thoughtfully. They could all tell a million thoughts were running through his mind. Just then, a healer walked past and Clarke said, "Orion!"

The man spun around, "Yeah, Clarke?"

"Get someone to cover me with Sherrie Bergens. I'm having a baby." He smiled, and then followed Ashley, Aly, and Sirius to Andi's room. Ashley smiled, pleased that she had possibly made a difference in her neice or nephew's life. Now they'd have two parents instead of one.

Hours passed, and nothing much was happening. Ashley had fallen asleep on Sirius's shoulder several times. Finally, she stood up and walked around a bit. "Anybody want coffee?" James, Aurora, Aly, Remus, and Nicole's hands went up.

"Okay, be right back," Ashley turned to leave, but Sirius followed.

"You're gonna need help carrying it back," Sirius shrugged.

"This might be a bit of a surprise to you," Ashley told him mysteriously, "but I'm a witch."

"Very funny," Sirius said.

"I think you just wanted an excuse to follow me," Ashley teased.

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Sirius questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Ashley shook her head, "Not in the least."

By the time everyone finished their coffee it was 1:36 a.m. Ava was asleep across two of the chairs. Aurora was sleeping against Andrew's chest. Andrew was staring off into space, Aly was writing to some friends back at school, Alonna was reading a book, Amy was playing Exploding Snap with James, Remus, and Nicole. Lily was asleep on one of the chairs. Alexis was painting her nails, as well as Ashley's, and Sirius was half-asleep on the chair beside Ashley.

Exactly one hour later, Clarke came into the waiting room, "It's a boy!" he announced happily, "He's really small, because he was born a month before the due date, but he's healthy. Andi's with him now, but the healer said we can only have three visitors at a time. So, how about Mr. and Mrs. Hartford, and one of her sisters?"

"You go," Aly said, nodding at the door.

"Are you sure?" Ashley asked, looking around at the rest of her little sisters.

"Positive."

"Thanks, guys," Ashley smiled happily and followed her parents inside the room. Andi was there, absolutely beaming at the child in her arms, "How are you?"

"I'm great. We're both great. Thanks for going behind my back and telling Clarke. I owe you."

"Yeah, you kind of do," Ashley replied with a grin.

"So, we thought of the perfect way to repay you," Clarke told Ashley, his smile growing by the second.

"Really?" Ashley asked as Andi handed her the baby. She looked down at him and smiled. He was beautiful. "You're giving me your son? Don't you think that's a little...extreme?"

"Not that, you idiot. We want you to be his godmother," Andi burst out happily, "If you want to, that is."

Ashley looked down at the baby, and then at his parents, "I'd be honoured. Thank you guys so much." She kissed him on the head and then passed him to Aurora.

"Have you decided on a name?" Aurora asked, looking down at the baby in awe.

"Tristan. Tristan Clarke Belcore."

"It's a lovely name," Aurora smiled, tears falling from her eyes. She handed the baby to her husband, "Isn't he beautiful, gramps?"

"Absolutely."

Ashley was growing more and more paranoid. She wanted to make this world a safe place for her nephew. She took every precaussion she could think of, even muggle ones, like alarms and even guns. Ashley had always liked guns. Her grandfather was a police officer, and he had taught her how to shoot and everything. She had explained to the purebloods of the group that police officers were like the equivelent to aurors. She put all kinds of charms around the apartment, where Andi and Tristan were currently living. Clarke was popping in quite a bit.

"I wish you would stop carrying that bloody thing around," Lily said, pointing to the gun, "You have a wand. What do you need that for?"

"They'll be expecting wands," Ashley said for the umpteenth time, "What if my wand gets stolen, huh? I'll need some form of protection. A single bullet to the head, and they're done for."

"Still," Lily shrugged, "It's dangerous."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Lily," Ashley told her, "I want to be as safe as possible."

"Can you at least get rid of the knife?" Lily pleaded.

"Not a chance," Ashley replied.

By the end of April, Ashley was celebrating her eighteenth birthday. Ashley decided she wanted to get a job. Auror training did take three years, after all, and, though she had plenty of money coming from her more than wealthy parents, it was still a good idea to have a job. Everyone agreed, and so, they decided to all look for jobs together.

Tristan had inherited the dark, almost black eyes that Andi had. They were mysterious, and always drawed people in. Ashley and Andi both played up their eyes with dark eyeliner. He had his father's curly blonde hair, though, only Tristan's was a shade or two lighter.

Clarke had gotten about a month off of work to spend time with the baby. His girlfriend, Marcia Fleming, didn't believe at first that he had no clue about the baby, and nearly dumped him, but she had accepted that he was just never informed, and didn't think very highly of Andi. Andi had stopped her work for the Order for now, until Tristan was a bit older. Andi was on maternity leave from the ministry.

Everyone had been searching for jobs for about a week with no luck. Ashley would have loved a job involving action, but, seeing as the only thing that applied was being an Auror, she would have to settle for something else. Finally, she took a job at the Yennodese. It was a wizarding inn, named after Finley Yennodese, who is believed to be one of the greatest Ministers of Magic of all time. Lily got a job at Flourish and Blotts. James took up a job at Quality Quidditch Supplies. Sirius, who was disowned, needed a job more than any of them. He got a night shift at the Leaky Cauldron serving drinks. Nicole accepted a job from Magical Menagerie. Remus got a job at Slug & Jiggers Apothecary.

Ashley's first day was pretty boring. She worked behind a tall, long desk with four other witches and a wizard. She only worked a five hour shift, though, and it payed pretty fairly, so it was all right. "So, you're in Auror training?" one of the girls asked. She was about Ashley's age, with long, curly black hair, tan skin, and dark eyes.

"Yeah," Ashley replied, "I have to wait about two more years to actually become one, though."

"That's wicked," the girl, named Carletta Cambridge, replied in awe.

"It's a lot of work, though," Ashley replied, "I spend six hours a day in training, go home for an hour, and then come here for another five hours."

"So, are you married or anything?" Carletta asked curiously.

"No, I have a boyfriend, though," Ashley replied, "What about you?"

"Nope, I'm single. So, what's he like?" Carletta asked. Ashley thought she might have been a drop out, because she appeared to be even younger than Ashley.

"He's tall, with longish black hair that always falls in his eyes, which are grey. He's funny, cute, sweet...I love him so much."

"He sounds like this guy I had a major crush on in school...Sirius Black, boy was he - "

"You're kidding," Ashley began to laugh, "That's my boyfriend."

"You're _dating_ Sirius Black?" Carletta asked, now hanging onto her every word even more.

"Yeah. How old are you?"

"I'm turning seventeen in June. Were you in Hogwarts?" Carletta questioned.

"Yeah. Gryfindor. You?" Ashley asked.

"Ravenclaw. I dropped out, though, a few months ago. School was never really my thing," Carletta sighed.

Just then, a piercing scream rang through the inn. Ashley sprang from her desk to see what was going on. She heard Carletta following, about five feet behind. There was a group of people outside room 118. "You need to get inside! Someone's being tortured in there!" a man pleaded.

"Don't worry, we're on it," Ashley said. She swiped her ID through the machine and on the screen beside the door it read HARTFORD, ASHLEY, with all of her personal information. The screen then went black, and ACCESS GRANTED flashed in green letters. Ashley stepped inside the room, wand at the ready. "_Stupefy_!" she yelled at a masked man who was grasping a woman.

He moved out of the way, dropped the woman, and rounded on Ashley, "You should think about minding your own business," the man said coldly.

"You should think, period," Ashley muttered. He raised his wand and shot a curse at her, but she ducked, "I mean, really. How fucking stupid do you have to be to come into an inn and try to kill someone? I'm sure your precious Voldemort would love to hear how incredibly dense his followers are."

"You dare speak his name?" the man said angrily, firing another curse at her. She ducked again and then raised her wand, "_Inpedimenta_!" she shouted. He slowed down, and she took a moment to enjoy herself. She punched him in the face, and kneed him in the groin. He fell to the floor, and she kicked him right in the face. She grabbed his wand and snapped it in two, throwing it to the floor. Then, she focused her attention to the girl, who looked to be about nineteen or twenty, just a few feet away. "Get outta here!"

"Th-Thank you. Thank you so much."

Ashley smiled for a moment, "Don't mention it."

Ashley then looked back down at the Death Eater before her. She had definitely broken his nose, for there was blood pouring from it. He started to speed back up, and Ashley thought fast, "_Incarcerous_!" ropes flew around him, and she was sure he couldn't break free. Especially without a wand. "_Expecto Patronum_!" she sent a message to the ministry, and moments later, Atticus Sheridan had arrived alongside Gilda Abraham. They congratulated her, and disapparated with the Death Eater to take him off to Azkaban.

Ashley smiled. If this is what it felt like to be an Auror, she felt she could be one for the rest of her life.

**What did you think? Remember, reviews mean a new chapter quicker! So get to reviewing, people! I'm thinking of having some kind of contest, actually involving reviews. Maybe something like, 'most loyal reviewer gets the next born child in the story named after them'? I don't know, lol. If you guys actually like that idea, let me know and i'll go for it! Hope you liked it!**


	22. The Siren's Song

**Okay, so I decided to add more magical creatures into my story. A lot of them are mentioned in this story, mainly, Siren's. For those who don't know what a Siren is, they lure men with a song and seduce them, in a nutshell. But don't worry. They won't be causing much trouble for our happy couples. Yet, anyway. Mwahahaha. So, enjoy, and please review! **

**The Siren's Song**

Carletta was now even more obsessed with Ashley's oh-so-fabulous life. Sirius was really freaking out. He was worrying about Ashley so much, that it was beginning to get kind of irritating, and they began arguing more and more. "You keep getting yourself into trouble, Ashley! One of these days you won't be able to get out of it!"

"So, what was I supposed to do, Sirius? Would you rather I let that poor girl die? Would that make you happy?" Ashley shot back.

"Somebody else could have done it!" Sirius yelled.

"I'm training to become an Auror, Sirius! As are you! Do you think we'll be sitting in rockers knitting scarves? We're fighting in a _war_. This is war. When are you going to get that through your thick skull? It's not a safe world, but that doesn't mean we just roll over and play dead!" Ashley countered.

"Keep it up, and you won't need to _play_!"

"Do you not trust me to fend for myself?" Ashley asked him, throwing her hands up in the air, "I know what I'm doing, Sirius! If you remember, I was top of almost every class!"

"So, smart people are invincible?" Sirius questioned, shaking his head, "You need to be careful!"

"You can't be careful in war," Ashley said indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest, "Nobody's safe anymore."

"And what is it with that gun and that knife, anyway, Ashley? It's like you can't function without them. What happens when it goes off and your bloody head explodes?"

"Well, if that were to happen, at least I'd be at peace, in a place where I don't need to hear your constant nagging!"

"You know it's only because I love you!" Sirius shouted.

"So this is how you show love?" Ashley questioned, raising an eyebrow, "By telling me again and again that I'm going to die? Wow, you must love me oh so very much."

"_Again_?" Nicole said, coming out of her room, "Give it a rest, guys!"

"_I_ didn't start this," Ashley said, narrowing her eyes at Sirius.

"You started this the moment you decided you had a death wish," Sirius muttered.

"There's a difference between wanting to die and wanting to save other people," Ashley told him, "You're telling me you wouldn't do the same thing?"

"I'm sorry," Sirius said, so quietly, it could barely be heard, "I just...I don't want to lose you."

"You won't," Ashley told him sternly, "Okay? I promise nothing bad will happen to me."

This had been going on a lot lately. Ashley and Sirius were fighting and making up all the time. Actually, the same could be said for the rest of the group as well. James and Lily had the gang over for dinner, and there was a bit of hostility between them. "What's wrong?" Nicole dared to ask.

"James here quit his job," Lily said sharply.

"Here we go again," James muttered.

"Yeah, here we go again," Lily said angrily, "You worked there for a bloody week, James!"

"Working isn't exactly my thing, Lily," James said in a tone which suggested he had said this before, "Besides, you know as well as I that my parents have enough money to support us for life."

"Don't you want to make money of your _own_?" Lily asked, "That sense of pride that you _earned_ something?"

"Do you know who you're talking to?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow at Lily, "I thought you knew him better than that."

"He's not even going to Auror training anymore!" Lily cried, "He just wants nothing to do with any sort of work!"

"I thought we both wanted this. What if we want a family someday, Lily? Don't you want to be able to spend time with your child instead of constantly working?" James argued.

"Of course!" Lily said, "But - "

"I don't want to work, Lily. What's the big deal? It's not like we're running out of money! Just drop it already!" And from then on, she did.

Ashley came home one night to find Andi on the couch making out with Clarke, "Oh my god, I'm sorry!" she shouted, running into her room. A few moments later, she heard the front door close, and Andi's footsteps coming into her room.

"Doesn't Clarke have a girlfriend?" Ashley asked, trying to conceal a smile.

"Yeah. This was the first time that's happened, I swear," Andi said, collapsing on Ashley's bed, "I don't even know why it happened. But we said good night to Tristan, and then went into the sitting room for some tea, and then things sort of...escalated."

"I can see that," Ashley grinned, "So, are you two going to get back together?"

"I don't know," Andi shrugged, "But I think it's time Tristan and I got out of here."

"What?" Ashley asked, her eyes widening, "Why?"

"We've intruded long enough," Andi shrugged, "I don't want to be too much trouble."

"Since when has that ever stopped you from doing anything?" Ashley asked her sister confusedly.

"You've got a point there," Andi smiled, "But still, I need to learn how to do this mothering thing. I need to learn to provide soley for my child. Unless of course, Clarke moves in and we become one, big, happy family. But things like that only happen in Fairy Tales, right?" Andi laughed, "Ah, what a night."

"I think you and Clarke should do whatever it takes to fix whatever problems you had," Ashley told her sister, "For you own sakes, and for your son's. It would be nice if he could grow up with parents who were actually together."

"It's not that simple," Andi stated.

"That's your excuse for everything. Maybe it is that simple. Maybe you just complicate things that aren't complicated in the first place. You're like a masochist, Andi. You're always hurting yourself. You don't feel right unless there's some kind of misery in your life."

"Is that you analysis, doctor?" Andi asked, raising an eyebrow at her younger sister's statement, "And why would I do a thing like that?"

Ashley thought for a moment, "So you can make more reasons not to do things other than just fear. Cause, that's what it comes down to, Andrea. You'll never let yourself be happy until you face your fears."

Things were getting rougher and rougher at Auror training, and the gang was beginning to crack. It would be surprising if all of them actually made it to their third year, at this rate. They were at the beginning of their second year of training, and last year was a breeze compared to this. Nicole was the first to crack. She had been suffering many injuries, and, as it turns out, she had asthma, meaning this was no fit career for her. After her second asthma attack, a really bad one, which also involved a minor concussion, she was sent to bed, and had to stay there for a week with a minimal amount of physical activity. The first day of her rest, the entire group came to see her.

"How're you feeling?" Peter asked. He had been hanging around a lot more lately.

"Better, thanks," Nicole smiled, "I feel like such a wuss."

"You're anything but a wuss, Nicole," Lily assured her, "This isn't your fault."

"I know, but still," Nicole shrugged, "Guess I'm going to have to find a new career, eh?"

"There are tons of things you'd be good at," Sirius shrugged, "Just go for something that doesn't involve you running around firing jinxes, and you'll be good."

"Isn't that pretty much everything in the Wizarding World?" Nicole questioned.

"Nah. Hey, maybe you could open a shop in Diagon Alley or something. That'd be cool," Ashley suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," Nicole said thoughtfully, "And it'll give me something to think about for the next six days."

"You think about whatever kind of shop you'd like to have, and I'll give you a start up loan to open it. Deal?" James asked. The group was always handing out money to Sirius and Nicole. They were, after all, both from pureblood families, and were both considered blood traitors. They were disowned as well, which was their common bond.

"That's sweet, James, but you don't have - "

"I insist," James said sternly, "It's the least I can do. Consider it my way of repaying you for that favor."

"Favor?" Nicole asked confusedly.

"You know," Sirius said, catching on, "That thing you did for James and I a few years back." He nodded his head toward Ashley.

"Oh, right! That. Well, if you insist," Nicole smiled, "Thank you so much, James."

"You're welcome," James said, "Now, get some rest, and we'll come back to check on you tomorrow."

At the end of May, Nicole was taken off of bed rest, and she decided she wanted to own the first club in Diagon Alley. Everyone thought it was a wonderful idea, and thus, the Siren's Song was born. As it happens, Nicole had quite a knack for business, and it became the hottest spot in Diagon Alley. It was located at the very end of Diagon Alley, beside a whole bunch of empty space where past shops had been knocked down. A week later, another meeting at the Order was called.

"He's gone on to more than just wizards," Dumbledore announced gravely, "He's recruiting Cyclopses, Wendigo's, Werewolves, Werecats, Banshees, and Succubuses. The good news, however, is that we have also been building up our own side. We have the majority of the Fairies, Wood Nymphs, Genies, Centaurs, Sphinxes, and Minotaurs on our side. We have an equal influence on the Mermaids, Dwarves, and Giants as Voldemort, so it's all up in the air at the moment."

"Where do the trolls stand?" Sirius wanted to know.

"What does it matter?" Lily replied for Dumbledore, "Neither of us _want_ the trolls, Sirius. They're bloody idiots."

"True," Sirius said under his breath.

"What about goblins and gremlins and such?" Frank asked.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly, "They're neutral."

"Siren's?" Lori suggested.

Dumbledore made a face like he had just sucked on a lemon, "Afraid not. It's too risky to even contact them. Even Voldemort knows that. The most powerful wizard will bend over backward for a Siren. It is, sadly, too risky, Miss Harrow."

"What if women try to recruit them? Sirens have no effect on women," Remus suggested.

"Hmm," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "I'll take that into consideration, Mr. Lupin. Perhaps if we only have females interact with the Sirens, there will be a way to recruit them."

"And that will give us one more group of followers than Voldemort's got," James said, nodding happily.

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, nodding back at him.

"How about Leprechauns?" Ashley suggested.

"We are in talks with them at the moment," Dumbledore replied, "but from the little contact we have made so far, it would appear that they would prefer to remain neutral as well."

Ashley was at Sirius's place for the night. At a quarter after three, she tip-toed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen for something to eat. The thing she liked about being at Sirius and Remus's place so much, was that there was always tons of food. She made herself a roast beef sandwhich and quickly ate it. She was on her way back into the bedroom, when she saw Sirius come out.

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" Ashley whispered, not wanting to wake Remus.

"No," Sirius shook his head, "I heard you leave."

"You were out cold," Ashley told him.

"I always wake up when you get out of bed," Sirius informed her, "I know it's late, but there's something I want to ask you, and I don't think it can wait until morning."

"Sure," Ashley shrugged, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and taking a seat on the couch with Sirius.

"Well...I was sort of wondering if...If maybe you'd want to live together?" Sirius asked nervously.

Ashley's eyes widened, "Really? You want to...live together?"

"Yeah," Sirius said, looking more sure of himself, "I do."

"Okay," Ashley found herself nodding and smiling, "Let's live together."

Ashley and Sirius found a lovely place about two blocks away and across the street from Lily and James. It was pretty much the only house in Godric's Hollow that was for sale. It was a pretty large house, actually, but Ashley, like James, had more money than she knew what to do with, and so, they bought it. Ashley was afraid of telling Andi and Nicole, though.

One night during the second week of June, she got up the courage to inform them of her and Sirius's decision. "Hey, Andi? Nikki? Can I talk to you guys for a second?"

"Sure," Nicole shrugged, and Andi followed her into the sitting room.

"Well, about a week ago...Sirius asked me to live with him." There. She had said it.

"Really?" Andi and Nicole asked in unison, their eyes growing to the size of quaffles.

"Yeah," Ashley said anxiously.

"That's great!" Andi said happily, hugging her sister.

"Yeah. I'm _so_ happy for you, Ash!" Nicole joined in.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Ashley said, her tone full of relief, "I was afraid you guys wouldn't take it well."

"Why wouldn't we?" Andi shrugged, "It's not like we need your money to pay for this place. I know I'll miss you, though. And so will your nephew. But we're only a few blocks away."

"Yeah," Nicole nodded, "We'll be popping into your new house all the time. Who knows, maybe Remus and I will be following in your footsteps soon."

"That would be fantastic," Ashley grinned, "I'm really glad you guys are okay with this."

Friday had come, and the gang decided to go to the Siren's Song for the night. They had all earned a night of fun. Clarke was watching Tristan so even Andi could join in. Andi and Clarke hadn't spoken about their kiss since it happened, and both were terribly confused about what it meant. Ashley and Sirius were half-way moved in. James and Lily hadn't been fighting as much lately. "So, I was thinking," Nicole said after pouring Ashley a drink, "Since I'm making millions on this place, I might open something else. Not a club this time. Maybe a resturant or something. What do you think?"

"I think that's a great idea," Ashley said, "You're really doing well for yourself. I'm proud of you, Nikki."

"Thanks," Nicole smiled happily.

And so, Nicole opened the Phoenix Feather, a fancy resturant next to her club. As training got more and more demanding, Remus was the next to back out. He kept having fears that he would transform and accidentally kill somebody he was trying to save. It was too big a risk. And then there were three.

Toward the end of June, Dumbledore asked to meet with Ashley, Andi, Nicole, Lily, and Alice. Dumbledore turned toward Ashley, Nicole, and Lily and said, "Alice has arranged a meeting with the Siren's. We need you to go and tell them what's going on and why they need to be on our side during these times."

"Absolutely, Professor," Ashley said, "Where do we have to meet them?"

"We tried to pick somewhere that not a lot of people will be at," Dumbledore replied, "So, if one of you would be so kind as to offering up your home for the day?"

"My house will work, Professor," Lily suggested, "I'll just tell James to scram for the day."

"Ah, wonderful," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling, "Alice, will you please inform the Siren's to be there at...Hmm, what time is good for you, ladies?"

"Noon?" Nicole suggested, looking around at the others.

"Noon it is," Dumbledore nodded, and Alice left Dumbledore's office.

"It's so weird being back here," Ashley said, shaking her head as she, Nicole, Andi, and Lily walked down the corridors of Hogwarts.

"Yeah," Andi agreed, "Incredibly weird. But a good kind of weird. Do you want to go into Hogsmeade?"

"Sure," Nicole said, and so, they walked out the front doors and off of Hogwarts grounds to apparate into Hogsmeade.

The next day at 11:30, Ashley walked down the street to Lily's house. About five minutes later, Nicole and Andi arrived. At exactly 12:00, the doorbell rang. They all ran to answer it, all of them worried they would say or do something to make the Siren's not want to be on their side. "Hi, I'm Lily Potter. This is Ashley Hartford, Andi Hartford, and Nicole Corry."

"Pleasure," one of them said in a voice that would make any man melt, "I'm Lorelei Alcine. This is Vema Hadoram, Zippora Paran, and Kelyn Raidne. We were chosen by the SRA to come here today."

They were all gorgeous. Lorelei had long, jet-black hair that fell all the way down her back in pretty waves. She had bright, violet eyes and fair, porcelain-like skin. Vema had firey red hair, almost identical to Lily's. She had bright navy blue eyes and ivory skin tones. Zippora was dark skinned with dark eyes and a beautiful smile. Kelyn was very tall with shoulder-length, straight, blonde hair and green-grey eyes. They looked as if they could all be models.

"Great, please come in," Lily said, directing them into the sitting room, "Would you like anything to drink?"

"We're okay, thank you," the one introduced as Zippora replied.

"You know, my cousin is in the Siren's Right's Assossiation as well. Maybe you know her? Lydia Hartford?" Ashley said.

"Oh, yes!" Lorelei said happily, "Lydia was supposed to come today, actually, but she got sick. We got Vema here to fill in for her. She's a wonderful person."

"Yeah, she is," Ashley agreed, "So, you're all aware of the situation with Voldemort."

"Yeah," Kelyn replied, "It's quite horrible, but we've decided that it would be best if we all stayed out of it, considering the types of powers we have."

"Those could be used as an advantage, though," Lily said thoughtfully.

"How so?" Vema asked.

"Well," Ashley explained, "If you can get Death Eaters to fall for you, they'll do whatever you ask. You could ask them to kill thesmelves, kill other Death Eaters, or give us information."

"That's true," Lorelei said contemplatively, "And we've never been evil, though we have a reputation for it."

"It's not our fault, though," Zippora said solemnly, "Being a Siren can be such a curse."

"I'm sure," Nicole said quietly.

Just then, James and Sirius entered the room and Lily and Ashley's eyes widened in horror. At the same time, they both shouted, "What are you doing here!?"

"Well, this is kind of my house," James said confusedly.

"I said to stay away from the house today!" Lily yelled.

"Oh, you meant today? You said that at like one in the morning last night. Technically, you should have said _later_, Lils. Not _tomorrow_," he looked over at the Sirens and his eyes widened, "Who-Who are you?"

James and Sirius's eyes both widened in delight, and they looked as if they were hypnotized. It was obvious that the Siren's began singing their song.

"Hey," Ashley said furiously, "Those guys are _ours_."

The Siren's all blushed, "Sorry," they chorused, and it was apparent they had stopped their songs.

"Would you get out of here?" Lily barked.

"Fine, fine. We have better places we can go," James said, sticking his nose in the air and turning on his heel. Sirius smiled and followed him out of the house.

"Erm - They're...They're quite handsome," Vema said.

"We know," Ashley replied, grinding her teeth.

"Can we have a moment to discuss things?" Lorelei asked.

"Sure," Lily shrugged, standing. Ashley, Nicole, and Andi followed suit. They left the room, leaving the four Siren's to speak alone. After two minutes or so, they were called back into the room.

Lorelei shook Ashley's hand, "The Siren's will be supporting you."

"Thank you," Ashley said, shaking back, "Thank you very much."

**wooo, I think I deserve a metal. My updates are becoming much more frequent, if any of you have noticed. I'm hoping to wrap up the story in the next couple of weeks, actually, because I'm itching to write my sequel! Thanks to all of those who review!**


	23. The Battle of Godric's Hollow

**Okay, so this chapter's a bit longer than my usual ones, and I was toying with this plot for a while, so I finally wrote it down. I really hope you all like it. Please R&R.**

**The Battle of Godric's Hollow**

Ashley sensed something going on with Nicole, so she decided to swing by The Phoenix Feather one night after work. Nicole worked there on Wednesday's, so she walked in and up to the hostess's desk. "Hey, Buffy. How's everything?" Buffy Weiss had been hired as the hostess. She had just graduated from the Salem Witches Institute and moved to England with her half-sister, who worked next door at the Siren's Song. They left America in hopes of getting far away from their controlling pure-blooded parents. Nicole, feeling their pain, took pity on them and hired them both. After all, she could relate.

"Great," Buffy replied happily, "I really like living here. Nicole's been great."

"Yeah, she is," Ashley smiled, "She's in her office, then?"

"Yep, go on in," Buffy replied, nodding toward the staircase. Ashley smiled and walked up the spiral steps. Ashley knocked on the door and walked in.

"How's it going, Nikki?" Ashley asked, sitting across from Nicole in one of the two chairs. Nicole was doing some paperwork, and looked glad for a distraction.

"Okay," Nicole shrugged, "What brings you here?"

"I was over at Madam Malkin's and thought I'd drop by," Ashley replied with a shrug. There was a pause, and then Ashley decided it was time to come clean, "Okay, that's a lie. Is there something wrong? You seem sort of, I don't know, dazed lately," Ashley shrugged.

"It's nothing," Nicole muttered, "I'm fine, really."

"I've known you for eight years, Nicole. You're going to have to do better than that," Ashley said softly.

"Fine," Nicole sighed miserably, "It's just...Ugh, this is going to make me sound like a huge baby. It's just...James proposed to Lily. Sirius asked you to move in with him. And in all the while Remus and I have been together, nothing's changed. It's always the same thing, always constant, no surprises. Nothing. I guess I wish our relationship were more like yours and Sirius's. I'd give anything to have a fight with Remus. That sounds incredibly stupid, I know. But at least there would be a thrill or something. Sometimes it feels like I want to compete with yours and Lily's relationships. It's horrible and selfish and disgusting, I know. I've just been thinking lately that maybe...Maybe I need to end it with him."

"First of all," Ashley said thoughtfully, "It's not dumb. You're right to want some kind of change once in a while. Nobody wants to live life with no surprises. Otherwise, what's the point? You should talk to Remus and tell him how you feel before you do anything as rash as ending it."

"It wasn't like this in the beginning," Nicole said reminiscently, "Remember? When he had that thing going with Lori and there was a point when we weren't even speaking. And then he told me he loved me, and I knew I loved him as well. I mean, I don't think I'm falling _out_ of love with him. It's just...Nothing's changing whatsoever."

"Talk to the man, Nicole. It can't hurt," Ashley told her seriously.

"Okay," Nicole smiled, wiping a small year away, "I don't know what I'd do without ya, Ash."

"You too," Ashley said, and the two girls stood and hugged.

On Saturday, Remus came by the club to pick Nicole up for their usual Saturday night date. Nicole usually met him at the bar when she was done with her paperwork, so Remus sat down at a stool and waited. "Hi, Shae," Remus greeted Shae Weiss as he had grown accostumed to, "Hi, Darren, Theresa, Roger," he called behind Shae's shoulder.

"Hey, Rem," Shae said, her voice cheery as usual, "Nicole said to just go on back today. She wanted to talk to you before you left."

Remus's eyes widened, "She-She wanted to talk?"

Shae looked at him, catching on to what he was thinking, "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. But good luck, just in case."

"Thanks," Remus said, breathing in deeply and walking toward Nicole's office. He opened the door and smiled, "Sh-Shae said you wanted to talk."

Nicole's office was cozy and welcoming. The walls were a tan color, with dark wooden book cases and shelves lining the walls. There were pictures of her friends, and famous witches and wizards. Her desk was orderly, for the most part, with a few stray objects. It was the same color wood as shelves. She sat in a black leather chair on wheels, and across from her sat two chairs that had a black and tan pattern, to match the theme of the room.

"Yeah," Nicole said. She sounded stressed. That wasn't a good sign in the least, "I think we're stuck, Remus."

"Stuck?" Remus repeated blankly.

"It's just," Nicole sighed, trying to search for the right words, hoping something would come to her, "Ugh, I'm not very good with words, Remus, or putting things lightly, so I'm just going to say how I feel. Our relationship feels like...well, like going to work everyday. It's familiar and it's comfortable, but it's too routine. Nothing ever changes. It's the same everyday. I think that maybe in the back of my mind, that's why I've buried myself in work, trying new things like the club and the resturaunt. To make up for what wasn't going on in my personal life. And that probably doesn't make much sense to you. In all honesty, it doesn't make all that much sense to me. I want risks, Remus. I want excitement. I want to know that when I wake up, I'm not going to know exactly what's going to happen, down to every little detail."

There was a long, awkward silence, and both of them were thinking a mile a minute. Finally, Remus opened his mouth to speak, "You're right. And it's my fault, Nicole. You know what? I'm going to try to change things. Let's...Let's go on a vacation."

"A...A vacation? Remus - "

"No," Remus shook his head, "Don't argue. I know what you're going to say. _I need to work_. You have more than enough people. You don't have to come in at all if you don't want to. _There's a war going on._ Screw the war, Nicole. That's a reason _why_ we should do this. You know what they say. Live every moment like it could be your last. We're going on vacation, and I don't want to hear another word about it."

Nicole had to admit, she rather liked the agressive side of Remus. She smiled, glad that she had taken Ashley's advice of talking it out rather than doing something she'd regret. She walked closer to Remus and kissed him passionately.

Ashley wandered over to Andi's. Nicole was at work, so Andi and Tristan were probably home alone. Ashley knocked on the door, and Andi answered, her eyes filled with tears. "He's...He's marrying her!" Andi cried, throwing herself at Ashley.

Ashley's heart broke for her sister, "Oh, no. Andi..."

"It meant nothing to him!" Andi sobbed, "I thought it mean something to him! It meant something to _me_! I'm such a fool!" Andi cried onto Ashley's shoulder.

"He's an idiot," Ashley stated firmly, "You can do better than that, Andrea. You deserve better."

"Clarke's the only guy I've ever loved," Andi said hushedly, "How am I going to move on from that?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to marry her. Maybe he wants to be with you, but he can't for some reason," Ashley suggested, trying to be optimistic.

"There's no reason good enough!" Andi stated.

"I'm so sorry, Andrea," Ashley said supportively.

Andrea was a complete mess. It was a huge blow to find out the guy you are in love with, who happens to be the father of your child, was marrying another woman. Andi was at home with Tristan one night when the doorbell rang. It was Clarke.

"What do you want?" Andi said, hoping she didn't look as if she had spent the past three days in tears.

"To explain," Clarke sighed, "I love you, Andrea. You know I love you. But...You see...Marcia's pregnant, Andi. I can't leave her now. I wouldn't have left you if you had told me you were pregnant. And she _is_ my girlfriend, despite what happened between us."

"How...How pregnant?" Andrea asked quietly.

"A little over three months. She's due in December," Clarke answered.

"Get out, Clarke," Andrea said, her nostrils flaring in anger, "I want you to leave. We'll work out some arrangement for our son, but I don't want anything to do with you, you understand?"

"Andrea - Please - "

"No," Andrea shook her head in anger, "I loved you, Clarke. But I can't put myself through this and I sure as hell won't put my son through this."

It was two nights before Remus and Nicole were leaving for France. The gang was hanging around Ashley and Sirius's house, drinking and just having some fun, despite all of the horrible events taking place around them. Nicole's brother David had joined the Order of the Phoenix, much to the horror of Mr. and Mrs. Corry. David was looking for a new place to stay, as he too was disowned, and had lived with his parents. David worked at the Department of Magical Transportation, and, while he made fair money, he didn't have enough to buy a home at the moment. So, Remus told him to feel free to stay in his apartment while they spent two weeks in Paris.

"Let's do something fun," Nicole suggested.

"What do you have in mind?" Lily questioned.

"How about we go around the room confessing something we've never told anyone before?" James suggested, wagging his eyebrows.

"That'll lead to nothing but trouble," Remus said.

"Aw, come on," James said excitedly, "don't be so cautious all the time, Moony. Come on, let's play."

"Fine," Remus said reluctantly.

"Hmm...Nicole, you start," James said.

"Uh, okay...All right...Lily, Ashley...You know how I used to have you come to my house in the summers?" Nicole said quietly. Lily and Ashley nodded, "That wasn't really my house."

"_What_?"

"I'm sorry I lied to you. It's just...Didn't you ever wonder why my pureblood parents would let a muggle-born and a half-blood into their house? I was too mortified to bring you there, so my Aunt Debbie said I could use her place when I wanted to ask friends to come over."

"You didn't have to lie, though," Ashley told her, "We would have understood."

"Well, when you first came over, it was only the end of first year, and after that it would have been kind of awkward to say, 'Hey, by the way, this isn't really my house', you know? Uh, James. You go."

"Okay...Let's see...When I was eight, I stole a chocolate frog from a little kid," James said, his voice serious and his face full of regret.

Everyone laughed, "Seriously!" Nicole said.

"Fine," James said, crossing his arms, "Uh, okay...During all my years at Hogwarts, whenever I was alone in the dormitory, I would, er - "

"Ew!" Lily cried, shaking her head, "James!"

"What? All I was going to say was that I'd blast music and lip sync to whatever song was on the Wireless...Sometimes a dance number would be involved," James added, turning scarlett.

"James Potter...Quidditch star by day...Singing sensation by night," Ashley laughed.

"Wow. Number 519 on the list of things I never needed to know about James Potter," Remus shook his head, "I'm gonna pretend I never heard that."

"Sirius. You go."

"Fine, I will," Srius said, "All right...I've had sex 1,217 times."

"_What_?" Ashley turned to him, her eyes wide, "You keep _count_?"

"1,004 times of which were with you," Sirius added.

"1,004, Ashley? _Really_?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Do all men keep count or is it just him?" Nicole asked sternly.

"Just him. _Definitely_ just him," James shook his head at his friend.

"You couldn't think of anything a little less perverted?" Lily questioned disgustedly.

"It was the first thing that came to mind," Sirius shrugged

"In school he couldn't keep track of how many other people slept in the room with him every night for seven years. But for _this_ he becomes a mathematician?" Remus asked.

"Okay, moving on," Sirius said defensively, "Remus."

"Wait," Ashley said, standing up, "I'm going to get another firewhisky. Any takers?"

Everyone's hand went up, and Ashley went into the kitchen. The _Prophet_ had come, so she skimmed through it really quickly. "Oh my god!"

Everyone came running into the kitchen, "What happened?" James asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. We just can't say the same for Daphne Gammond and Jasmine Noble."

"Oh no," Lily said, "What happened?"

"They're missing," Ashley sighed, "Looks like Daphne put up some fight. Jasmine put up a mild one, but she was no match for whoever took her."

Sirius felt his face turn red at the mention of Jasmine Noble, and Ashley took notice.

"Oh, Sirius, that's not what I'm thinking about at the moment!" Ashley told him, "I didn't like her, but I don't want her to _die_. And Daphne was a good friend to all of us."

"Yeah, she was," Nicole agreed, "I hope she's found."

Nicole and Remus left for France, and June turned into July. Nicole would be spending her eighteenth birthday, which fell on the seventh, in France. Ashley loved living with Sirius. She loved starting and ending everyday lying beside him. One night Ashley was at home watching TV, waiting for Sirius to get home from work, when she saw the fireplace turn green, and her younger sister stepped out. "Hi, Aly."

"Hi," Aly replied, smoothing down her outfit.

"What's up?" Ashley said happily. She was glad her sister was done with school so they could get some time to become friends. They had never exactly been close, and had only started being able to put up with one another recently. Aly used to be an immature slut, for lack of a better word, but Ashley could see her sister was really changing.

"It's just," Aly sighed, and Ashley could see she was trying to find the right words, "How do you do it? How do you go to Hogwarts everyday for seven years of your life, and then at the end of the seventh year, it's just over like that," Aly snapped her fingers.

"Graduating and moving on is always tough," Ashley said sympathetically, remembering the same pain, "But after a while you get used to it. Hogwarts was home to us for so long, and it will always be home in the back of our minds. Think of it like a break-up. You break up with someone, and then you have to adjust to not seeing their face everyday. It's hard, yeah, but it's not impossible. You should try looking for a job to distract yourself," Ashley suggested.

Aly snorted, "There's nothing I would be qualified for, Ash. I mean, can you really see me in a cubicle, behind a desk or anything like that?"

"I can see you doing whatever you want to do," Ashley answered, "You just need to figure out what that is."

"I don't have the grades for anything," Aly shrugged, "Maybe I could do what Nicole did and open a shop in Diagon Alley or something."

"That's a great idea," Ashley said, "What kind of shop would you like?"

"Hmm...Maybe a jewelery store! Enchanted jewelery items and stuff like that. What do you think?" Aly said. Ashley smiled. Through everything, after all these years, her sister still craved approval. Aly's eyes widended in hopes that Ashley would agree.

"Perfect," Ashley said, "I hear Crick's Bakery went out of business. Maybe you could open your store there?"

"That's great! Thanks so much! I'm going to go run the idea by mum and dad. Hopefully I'll be able to have a place of my own soon!" Aly said. She had inherited their grandfather's bright blue eyes. They were large and filled with excitement.

"Okay. Come by at around noon tomorrow and we'll discuss business matters," Ashley told her.

"Thanks! Seeya!" Aly hugged Ashley and stepped into the fire, "Number 89, Carrington Street!"

Aly set to work on her jewelery store, and became the newest member of the Order of the Phoenix. Aurora Hartford confirmed her pregnancy after it became hard to hide. She was already showing. She was due toward the end of January, but she wasn't at all upset about it. In fact, she was over the moon.

Lily, Ashley, Aly, Andi, and Nicole were all at Lily's for the night, the night after Nicole returned. It was a girl's night, a slumber party. They had a lot of catching up to do, after all. "So, how's the romance department?" Lily asked, nudging Aly.

"Non-existant," Aly said, taking a sip of wine.

"Ashley's the only Hartford sister to have any sort of luck in that field at all," Andi stated, "Maybe the baby'll have some luck with guys."

"And if it _is _a guy?" Nicole asked.

"Not gonna happen," Aly, Ashley, and Andi said in unison.

"And...Why is that?" Lily questioned.

"No guy has been born into our mother's side of the family in centuries," Aly stated, "Our Great-Aunt Joyce had sixteen kids, not a male in the bunch."

"That's pretty odd," Nicole said.

"Ya think? If any male cousins or uncles or anything are mentioned, it's either by marriage or on our father's side," Andi said.

"So, who was your last boyfriend, Al?" Ashley asked.

"Nicholas Murphy," Aly said immediately, "And that was almost a year ago."

"You haven't had a boyfriend in a _year_?" Andi questioned.

"After Nick it was too hard," Aly shrugged awkwardly, "I was still really stupid then, and I...I cheated on him. I didn't realize how strongly I felt about him until it was too late. I haven't seen him since he graduated, but I think about him everyday," Aly's eyes got watery and it was clear she didn't want to talk about it anymore, "S-So how's my little nephew, Andi?"

Andi was still recovering from Aly's sencerity, "Uh...He's fine, Al."

"Good," Aly said, forcing a smile, "So, Nicole. How was France?"

"Unbelievable," Nicole responded without missing a beat, "Remus and I are closer now than ever before. This was the best idea he's ever had. Actually, we didn't get to too much sight seeing, if you know what I mean."

The girls all started giggling, "That's one thing I just can't picture. Remus Lupin in any sort of sexual scenario," Ashley said with a laugh.

"I couldn't picture it until we got together, either," Nicole admitted, "He's just so sweet, y'know?"

"Yeah," Lily nodded, "We know."

"So, what's with you and Sirius?" Nicole asked.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"Have you guys ever discussed, like, marriage or anything?" Lily asked curiously.

"Not really, I mean, he tried to ask me to marry him once, but other than that, nope," Ashley said quickly, and it came out like one word.

"Woah," Aly said, her eyes wind, "Rewind and freeze. _What_?"

"He sort of tried to ask me to marry him and I sort of ruined it," Ashley confessed.

"_What_?" the other four cried in shock.

"Yeah, you see..." and Ashley went on to tell them all what happened.

The guys were all sprawled out on the floor in Sirius's house. "No way," Remus said in disbelief, "You were going to ask her to _marry _you?"

"Why is that so shocking?" Sirius asked indignantly, "Is it such a surpise to everyone that I love her, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her?"

"Well," James said awkwardly, "...Yeah, kinda."

"_Why_?" Sirius wanted to know.

"You're just...You don't strike people as the type who wants to settle down and have a dog and kids," Peter shrugged.

"Cut the guy some slack," David said, bringing some firewhisky's into the room, "He's in love and he wants to spend the rest of his life with someone, that's great."

"Did I mention you're my new best friend?" Sirius said, turning his head upward and crossing his arms at James, Remus, and Peter.

David and Remus had become roomates, and David had been hanging out with the Marauders a lot lately.

"You know, Sirius, this place is pretty huge," Remus commented, looking around the mansion-sized house.

"Yeah," Sirius nodded, "Five bedrooms, three bathrooms, sitting room, parlor, conservatory, kitchen, attic, and a basement. It's a good thing Ashley's loaded. Her fortune makes up for all the money I don't have anymore."

"So, how's married life?" Remus asked James.

James grinned boyishly, "It's great. I wonder which of you is going to be the next ones at the alter."

"Ashley and Sirius, without a doubt," Remus muttered.

"What?" David questioned confusedly, "Why?"

"Nicole and I don't even _live_ together. I don't know if she's ready for marriage," Remus shrugged.

"You never know until you ask. That is, if you're ready," James told his friend.

"I don't know if I am," Remus said quietly.

Andi decided to go into business with Aly, and so, they co-owned Hartford Sister Jewels. Ashley was so impressed to how much her sisters had changed. Aly had transformed into a responsible, decent human being, and because of Tristan, Andi was more cautious and caring. She thought more before acting. August approached and in the very beginning, Molly Weasley announced she was pregnant yet again.

Ashley and Sirius went to the Burrow to babysit the boys one night shortly after Molly announced her pregnancy. Ashley found it odd that Percy never cried, but she didn't complain about it. "So are you two boyfriend girlfriend?" Bill asked after Ashley gave him some of Molly's leftover meat loaf.

Ashley and Sirius smiled, "Yeah," Sirius answered.

"Are you gonna get married?" Ashley and Sirius both turned red.

"Uh - We don't know yet," Ashley answered, "But tell ya what, if we do, you can be ring bearer like you were for Lily and James's wedding."

"Really? Cool!" Bill said excitedly.

"What about me?" Charlie asked sadly.

"You can both be ring bearers," Ashley said, picking Charlie up and putting him on her lap. When the boys fell asleep, an awkward silence presented itself between Ashley and Sirius.

"Okay," Ashley sighed, dreading the words that were about to come out of her mouth, "The elephant in the room is overstaying its welcome."

"I know," Sirius said hushedly, trying not to wake the kids, "I guess we have to talk about it."

"Yeah, we do," Ashley gently, "I really am sorry for ruining everything."

"It's all right, Ashley. It's just...Do you want to get married?"

Ashley widened her eyes a bit, "Are...Are you proposing?"

"I'm...asking for future reference," Sirius responded carefully.

Ashley took a deep breath, "I don't know. I mean, sometimes I think I could see myself married with kids and all of that. But then I think about my life and my history, and it just seems ridiculous for someone like me."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sirius asked confusedly.

"Oh, come on, Sirius. Neither of us have a perfect track record. Now, take someone like Lily. She's the perfect example of someone meant for marriage and children and all of that stuff. Molly, she's another example. But me? I wouldn't be any good as a domestic type," Ashley looked up at Sirius awkwardly, and then back down at her folded hands.

"Ashley," Sirius said sadly. He lifted her chin so they were looking each other in the eye, "Nobody can decide whether you're the _type._ As long as you do what your heart tells you to do, nothing else matters. Not who either of us used to be, or who you think you are. To me, you're a smart, funny, beautiful person who can do anything she sets her mind to. I love you and I want you to be happy. This is what you want, and if you don't want to, I won't be angry."

"Let's see what happens," Ashley shrugged, "We're young, and we've got so much time."

"You're right," Sirius said, squeezing her hand, "We've got forever to think about this stuff."

"The way things are going lately, I'm not so sure."

Ashley walked into the kitchen and gaped. "Why is everyone I've ever met in my kitchen?" she asked confusedly, looking to Sirius for an explanation.

"Sorry," Sirius said, "You were shopping and we needed a place to have a meeting. Dumbledore said it would be best if we moved the meetings house to house so it wouldn't be suspicious, in case someone on his side was watching us or something."

"Yeah," James jumped in, "A lot of us had to come in here invisible or transformed into another person. There's talk of him having death eaters tail certain people."

"Why not just have the meetings at Hogwarts?" Nicole suggested, "Nowhere is more protected than Hogwarts."

"It was considered," Dumbledore responded, "but unfortunately, there are too many risks. Especially when it comes to all of the students."

Just then, an owl swooped in through the window and gave Ashley a letter. She tore it open and looked at it. There were a mere five words in the letter, but they were enough to startle anybody.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, noting a change in her expression.

"It's an anonymous letter," Ashley said under her breath.

"Who from?" Sirius asked.

Ashley ignored her boyfriend's stupidity, "You are all in danger."

"Who could this be from?" Ashley asked confusedly, handing the letter to Lily.

"Someone who wants to warn us, but can't reveal themselves," Alice said, "But who could that be?"

"Maybe it's someone posing as a death eater to get information, but he or she doesn't trust anybody on our side to keep their secret," Nicole suggested.

"That's a good theory, Miss Corry," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "However, we should not make light of this note. We are not even certain whether it is a threat or a warning, after all."

"You think it could be a threat?" Frank questioned, "That's not the impression I got. Besides, why would they send a letter to tell us that? Why not just come in and attack?"

"Different minds work in different ways, Mr. Longbottom," Dumbledore responded, "I'm merely suggesting we all be careful with whom we associate, and to read between the lines. In this case, however, I do agree with you. It does not appear to be a threat, but we should still try to be cautious."

There was a crashing noise and everyone rose from their seat in the dining room. All of the Order members rose their wands defensively as a group of death eaters barged into the house, including Voldemort himself. "Molly, get out of here!" Arthur screamed, gesturing toward the fire with one hand, and firing a hex with the other.

"Arthur - "

"GO, Molly!" he screamed. She whimpered and disapparated out of the house.

Ashley was dueling with somebody, and she was dodging curses left and right. None of them hit her so far, and only one of hers hit him. "_Crucio_!" he cried, and this time, it hit her. She buckled over in pain, and cried out.

"Ashley!" Sirius screamed, running toward her. "_Petrificus Totalus_!" he yelled, pointing his wand toward the death eater attacking her. He bent down to see how she was.

"I-I'm all right," Ashley assured him, standing gingerly.

"How sweet," a cruel voice from behind said, "_Avada Kedavra_!" it shouted, pointing his wand directly at Ashley. But Sirius stepped in front of Ashley, and pushed her out of the way, and it just missed both of them. Sirius began dueling the new attacker, and Ashley went off to help Lily, who was now battling two death eaters all on her own.

"Ah, nice of you to stop by," Lily said, sending a curse at one of the guys.

"Yeah, well," Ashley shrugged like it was nothing, "the last guy got sort of boring. Decided to check the action over here. But I must say, it's even slower than the last guy." Ashley sent a curse flying at the second guy, and smiled, "Too easy."

Ashley ran over to Remus's side, and Lily went to join Aly. The death eater cast the killing curse at Ashley, but she pointed her wand and yelled, "_PROTEGO_!" the curse deflected and hit the death eater, and he fell to the ground. Ashley's eyes widened in horror. She had just killed somebody. She didn't have much time to think about it though, because the death eaters weren't exactly happy that one of their own was down. Voldemort was busy dueling Dumbledore.

Remus went over to help Nicole, and Ashley ran toward David. The Cruciatus Curse was sent toward Ashley, but she put up another shield. This death eater moved faster, and narrowly avoided the curse. This was the first female one Ashley had dueled. She was good, in all honesty. But Ashley was better.

Everyone was involved in a serious duel, but luckily, everyone was alive aside from that death eater. Ashley cast a finger-removing jinx at the death eater who had raised his wand to hex David. David mouthed a quick thank you, and then went off to help his sister and his roommate. The death eater cried out in pain and while he was weak, Ashley put ropes around him to ensure that he wouldn't be hurting anyone else.

Ashley scanned the room, looking for someone in need of assistance, when she found herself for the second time in one year, face-to-face with the Dark Lord himself. "_Crucio_!" he shouted, but Ashley dodged it and tried to set him on fire. He sent some kind of hex at her that made her go flying through the air, and she landed on her head, making everything go black.

_Two Weeks Later_

Sirius paced around the room. They had only let him see her six times in the past fourteen days! He needed answers. He needed to know what was going on. Two of his friends and the love of his life were in intensive care. And he just had to sit down and take it? Lily was right next door to Ashley, and he hadn't heard much about her, either. Aly was across the hall from Lily and Ashley. She had been going in and out of conciousness, but she was doing much better than the other two.

"I want to see her," Sirius said, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring angrily at the healer.

She sighed. Sirius knew it wasn't her fault, and he could tell that she sympathized with him, "Go on in. But we have to run tests at 1:30 sharp, okay?"

"Fine. Thank you, Glorianne," Sirius walked past her and into Ashley's room. His heart broke again as he looked at her. There was nothing more he hated than seeing her this way. "Hi, Ashley," he said weakly, taking her hand in his and staring at her, "I miss you so much. The house is...It's so lonely without you. I'm so lonely without you. I need to see you wake up, Ash. I need to you see you smiling or laughing, or making some sarcastic comment. I don't know what I'd do without you, so, for both of our sakes, just open your eyes. Open your beautiful eyes. I don't know what we were thinking when we kept saying how much time we have for things like marriage. Any moment could be our last, so we have to make each and every one of them count. I want to marry you, Ashley Rhiannon Hartford. Great, look at this, I'm proposing to an unconcious person...It's true though. I want to marry you, have children with you, and grow old with you. But you just need to wake up in order to do that. You just need to wake up. Please wake up. Okay, I need to know that you can hear me. So, squeeze my hand if you can hear me...All-All right?" Sirius looked at his hand, wrapped around Ashley's in anticipation. He waited for a minute. Then five minutes. Nothing happened. He finally gave up, and focused his eyes back on her face. Ten more minutes passed, and it was 1:15. He would have to leave in fifteen minutes, but he would have given anything in the world to stay.

Sirius lifted her hand and kissed it softly. Then, he stood, and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you." He sat back down and looked at her face, memorizing every detail. The exact shape of her eyebrows, her lips, her nose, her skin, her eyelids. Every little thing. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking, but Sirius could have sworn her eyelids fluttered.

He concentrated soley on her eyes, watching them as intently as possibly. Another minute passed. Then another. And then it happened again! And slowly, her eyes opened and rested on her face. His eyes widended in delight and he couldn't remember a moment when he was happier. "Ashley! Oh, thank Merlin! I was so worried - We were all so worried! How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

"I'm okay, I guess," Ashley shrugged, "A little thirsty, maybe."

"Oh, here!" he said, handing her a cup of water.

"Thanks," she said quietly, and she took a sip from the cup, "So, uh, would you mind telling me who you are?"

**What did you think? Let me know if it was great or if it sucked. I'm really grateful for all of the reviews and everything, they make my day!**


	24. UPDATE

**UPDATE**

**okay, if anyone still cares about this story, i'm so sorry for abandonning it. there was a lot going on at home, and i just couldn't find the time. plus i wasn't so crazy about the story anymore. it got kind of sloppy, in my opinion. but if anyone cares, im going to post the story on my new account and update it. i'm going to revise the chapters and everything so you can get the story you deserve. thanks for all the reviews, i really aprreciate it. in the meantime, i have a new story you can check out. the new penname is mrsbreezyblack. once again, im so sorry and i hope you'll read the revised version!**

**take care,**

**briseis**


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